The Chile-based retailer also wins the category for the most convincing and coherent strategy in the region, as well as finishing top of the retail sector category. Meanwhile, Banco Bradesco becomes the best-managed company in Brazil for the first time, and Credicorp wins in Peru.

return to the

Euromoney’s best-managed Latin American company, Falabella, prides itself on serving the investor community as assiduously as it does its retail customers. And best company in Brazil Bradesco seeks to apply the IT skills it uses in banking to its relations with investors.

By Country return to the

There has been a steady increase in international Latin American debt issuance recently. But is this masking a trend towards local-currency issuance, specifically in local markets?

Bullish investors – such as Jim O’Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management – reckon strong earnings growth will ensure emerging stocks can repeat their stellar performance in 2013. But with valuations less attractive than last year, only the smart money will generate outsized returns, with China and Russia looking particularly attractive, analysts conclude.

As Brazil’s private banking market becomes more like the rest of the world, with greater product diversity and sophistication, the international banks sense an opportunity to take the competition to the locals. In recent years the Brazilians have used their presence and their nationality to win market share.

The collapse in interest rates means that rich Brazilians will have to grapple with riskier investments offering less liquidity if they are to maintain investment returns. Private bankers are up for the challenge of providing them.

Linx looked to for issuance kickoff; Large deal pipeline needs stimulus

Despite the country’s strong fundamentals and celebrated growth rates in recent years, the economy lost some of its shine in 2012. The government must get over its obsession with the real and concentrate on beefing up productivity and trade, say analysts.

Capital controls look as likely as inflation targeting in upcoming monetary policy.

New farm land being opened up; Foreign investors making profit-sharing deals

The first tax-exempt domestic infrastructure bond has been issued in Brazil. Concessionária Rodovias do Tietê, a toll road operator, has issued R$650 million in 12-year debt.

Euromoney’s seventh Latin American company ranking is based on a survey of market analysts at leading banks and research institutes in Latin America. Respondents were asked to nominate the top three companies in each of the countries or sectors they covered, bearing in mind market strength, profitability, growth potential, quality of management and earnings.

Expansion in the region to take advantage of rapid economic growth and the opening of operations elsewhere in the world are core themes among Latin America’s best-managed companies.

AmBev is awarded Best-Managed Company in Latin America 2012 The food and beverage company also wins Most Convincing and Coherent in the region and the Consumer Goods sector category.

Decoupling the country’s economy from inflation will take a long time and prevents long-term credit from developing.

International investor interest in Latin America has intensified scrutiny of the corporate governance and investor relations of companies in the region. Big companies such as Vale, Petrobras and bank BBVA have responded remarkably well to this scrutiny. Rob Dwyer reports.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has become one of the top-five investment banks in Latin America in just two years. There are plans to double revenues over the next three. In its new role as a universal bank, will BAML be able to compete with the international banking incumbents? Helen Avery reports.

Global and regional financial crises provide Latin America’s corporate executive with stark evidence of benefits of good corporate governance and risk management.

The partly state-owned Brazilian oil company sees no conflict between profitability, state ownership and social responsibility, according to its chief financial officer, Almir Barbassa. Jason Mitchell reports.

Large Latin American companies with substantial exposure to foreign investment are adapting rapidly to the need for good corporate governance and receptive investor relations. But there is still a hard core of resistance to change from family-centred businesses. John Rumsey reports.

Latin America’s best companies, like its capital markets, are beginning to find their bite. Boldness is the buzzword in a stable environment of 5% regional economic growth. For a growing club, foreign markets are the targets for home-grown Latin success stories. Leticia Lozano reports.