VZCZCXRO2760
RR RUEHGH RUEHRG
DE RUEHSO #0594/01 3091009
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 041009Z NOV 08 ZDK
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8677
INFO RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 9838
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RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 8911
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RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SAO PAULO 000594 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR WHA/BSC, EEB/CBA 
DEPT OF TREASRY FOR JHOEK, BONEILL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ENV ECON EFIN ETRD EAG BR
SUBJECT:  DESPITE FINANCIAL DOWNTURN, GLOBA FINANCIAL PLAYERS SEE 
POCKETS OF OPPORTUNITY IN BRAZIL 
 
REF:  A. Sao Paulo 485; B. Brasilia 1417; C. Sao Paulo 548; D. Rio 
298 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UCLASIFIED 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  The Country Managers for four major 
international financial firms - Morgan Stanley, Carlyle roup, 
American Insurance Group (AIG), and Rabobank consistently voiced 
concerns over the near to medium- term impact of the financial 
crisis and how it would affect their individual sectors in recent 
meetings with Ambassador Sobel.  Even so, all but AIG stated that 
they remained committed to doing business in Brazil.  One financial 
player even saw a silver lining to the dark clouds on the horizon, 
stating: "A bit of crisis is good for Brazil - it creates structural 
improvements for the economy and the society."  Financial sector 
contacts also repeatedly mentioned China's increasing role as an 
investor in Brazilian markets.  End Summary. 
 
AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH FINANCIAL SECTOR REPRESENTATIVES 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Over a one week period, Ambassador Sobel met with the 
following financial institution country managers:  Eduardo Machado 
and Fernando Borges, Managing Directors of the Carlyle Group's 
Brazilian Real Estate and Buyout practices, respectively; Daniel 
Goldberg, Senior Managing Director and Head of Mergers and 
Acquisitions for Morgan Stanley Brazil; Erik Peek, General Manager 
of Rabobank Brazil; and Ana Vigon, Managing Partner for AIG Brazil. 
 
 
CARLYLE: CONTINUED OPTIMISM FOR PRIVATE EQUITY INVESTMENTS 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Carlyle specializes in private equity investments and is 
one of the largest private equity investors in the world.  They 
entered Brazil with a real estate fund in 2007 and are now adding a 
buyout fund to purchase equity in more mature companies.  Borges 
remarked that he has a series of potential investors visiting Brazil 
conducting due diligence on the buyout fund, mostly from 
Switzerland, Sweden, and other European countries.  He also noted 
heavy Asian and American interest and remained optimistic that he 
would be able to conduct the first closing of the fund (targeting 
USD 300 million in capital) around December. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Carlyle favors Brazilian real estate investments because 
the projects in Brazil are generally earlier stage and allow the 
company to co-invest with mid-sized companies and garner larger 
returns than in many other markets.  In Brazil, they are targeting 
the residential real estate market as well as office and commercial 
buildings.  In February, Carlyle signed a deal with Fibra (a 
mid-sized real estate developer) to build an office building in Rio 
de Janeiro and last year they took a USD 70 million stake in Scopel, 
a residential condominium developer.  Machado noted that stimulating 
domestic Brazilian interest in real estate investments is difficult. 
 Carlyle has found that the bulk of Brazil's wealthy families have 
traditionally had significant real estate holdings as a hedge 
against inflation and Brazil's historical economic turbulence.  When 
they are approached about investing in real estate in Brazil, they 
often have a significant real estate portfolio and feel that they 
have enough of their own expertise to invest in the market - they do 
not see the need to invest in a fund.  Carlyle's mission is to add 
value to the marketplace by giving foreign investors the opportunity 
to gain exposure to Brazilian real estate (Reftel A). 
 
MORGAN STANLEY: CRISIS WILL PROMOTE BRAZILIAN BANK CONSOLIDATION 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Daniel Goldberg, Head of Mergers and Acquisitions, said 
the liquidity crunch will likely bring down some small and mid-sized 
Brazilian banks.  At the same time, it is also creating business in 
the mergers and acquisitions market.  Morgan Stanley had received 
three calls for "emergency" sell-side mandates for mid-sized banks 
 
SAO PAULO 00000594  002 OF 003 
 
 
in the week prior to the Ambassador's October 22 meeting (Reftel B). 
 Goldberg added that while the company has yet to feel the true 
effects of Mitsubishi's recent purchase of a 21 percent stake of 
Morgan Stanley, the company is looking to expand its global 
financial dealings with Mitsubishi.  In the interim, Goldberg 
maintained that he has a mandate to expand in the Brazilian 
marketplace.  Morgan Stanley's economic forecasts for Brazilian GDP 
growth are below consensus Wall Street estimates (around two percent 
for 2009 vs. 3.5 percent for the consensus).  Despite this, Goldberg 
stated that Morgan sees Brazil as better prepared to weather this 
crisis than many other Latin American countries and he believed 
Morgan would reduce its exposure to most of Latin America, including 
Mexico, but would not reduce in Brazil (Reftels C and D). 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Goldberg also confirmed Morgan Stanley is watching 
continued Chinese investment in Brazil.  He mentioned that Banco 
Santander is scheduled to bring a "huge" Chinese delegation to 
Brazil in the beginning of November.  The group will likely include 
representatives from the China's Sovereign Wealth Fund, China 
Investment Corp (CIC), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China 
(ICBC), and National Social Security Fund (NSSF). 
 
RABOBANK: AGRICULTURAL CREDIT - TIGHTER AND GETTING TIGHTER 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Rabobank is a co-operative of 161 local banks in the 
Netherlands plus international subsidiaries and is one of the few 
AAA rated banks in the world.  It was founded as an agricultural 
lender and maintains it dominance as a food and agri-bank.  Country 
Manager Erik Peek stated that the bank's "sweet spot" is large-scale 
agri-business.   According to Peek, current credit constraints were 
slow to hit Brazilian farmers and are only now starting to ripple 
throughout the marketplace.  Peek noticed a credit tightening in the 
corporate market long before he saw it impact the agricultural 
sector.  Peek speculated that, even now, Brazilian farmers - who are 
used to having the occasional line of credit denied - still do not 
realize that this credit crunch is different from normal cycles in 
agricultural lending. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Peek opined that, among the major players in Brazilian 
agricultural lending (Banco do Brasil; Banco do Nordeste; Cargill; 
Archer Daniels Midland; Santander -through its acquisition of ABN 
Amro; and John Deere - through its equipment finance arm), he 
expected many of Rabobank's competitors to significantly reduce 
exposure to agricultural loans.  The double punch of falling 
commodities prices coupled with a credit crunch will force many 
lenders to exit the market.  He revealed that, in the current 
environment, when Rabobank reviews credits and makes new lending 
decisions, it now reviews the transaction as if Rabobank would be 
the sole lender to the agri-business.  The bank assumes that 
existing lenders will not renew lines of credit and that, if 
Rabobank decides to maintain the relationship, Rabobank may have to 
shoulder the entire loan portfolio alone.  He did note that while 
many private lenders may exit the market, the GOB was likely to 
become a lender of last resort to many agri-businesses to keep the 
sector from a significant decline. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Peek estimated the total market for agricultural lending 
in Brazil to be about R$ 45 billion (approximately USD 23 billion at 
the current R$2.1 exchange rate).  Of this market, Rabobank has a 
portfolio of slightly under R$2 billion (USD 950 million) in crop 
financing and R$ 3billion (USD 1.43 billion) in equipment financing. 
 Peek claimed that Rabobank is still asset hungry and he wants to 
increase the bank's Brazilian exposure. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) When asked about the effect of the liquidity crunch on 
the upcoming planting season, Peek remained optimistic.  He 
explained that even if farmers could not get loans in the short 
term, they were likely to offset this by reducing or eliminating 
fertilizer (the most expensive import product).  Assuming they have 
been fertilizing properly in recent years, they will likely still 
have acceptable crop yields for at least one and possibly two 
 
SAO PAULO 00000594  003 OF 003 
 
 
harvests.  Because of this, he did not see yields dropping in 2009, 
but agreed that if the situation does not improve by 2010, the 
crisis is likely to have an impact on crops. 
 
AIG - TIMES ARE HARD AND GETTING HARDER 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶11.  (SBU) AIG's Ana Vigon, Managing Partner for Brazil, was the 
only financial sector player who expected her company to reduce 
Brazilian exposure.  Due to AIG's well-publicized financial woes and 
its need to raise cash, Vigon stated that AIG is likely to sell off 
all of its businesses outside of its casualty insurer.  While she 
did not see AIG exiting Brazil entirely, clearly the country is not 
a top priority for the company given AIG's financial woes. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Comment:  The consistent bullishness of large financial 
players regarding opportunities in Brazil despite the overall 
economic downturn is encouraging. Post will watch whether Carlyle is 
successful raising the first tranche of its buyout fund in this 
economic environment.  Whether the GOB actually undertakes the 
structural reforms that Peek predicted when he noted that "a little 
crisis is good for Brazil" also remains to be seen.  Finally, the 
common refrain of global companies reducing exposure in other 
marketplaces but not Brazil raises concerns that interlocutors may 
be slow to recognize that the repercussions of the global financial 
crisis may seriously impact their businesses too.  End Comment. 
 
¶13.  (SBU) This cable has been cleared by the Embassy in Brasilia 
and Ambassador Sobel and coordinated with the U.S. Treasury 
Financial Attach and Foreign Agricultural Service in Sao Paulo. 
 
WHITE