The emergence of Latin multinationals

Abstract

The corporate world has changed remarkably in the past 10 years. New multinationals are appearing in countries with emerging markets such as Brazil, India, China, South Africa and Mexico, which are not only top recipients of foreign capital, but have fast become major investors themselves. An important part of the remarkable story of emerging multinationals has been the eruption of world-class Latin multinationals (or multilatinas) from Mexico and Brazil, in particular, following the path taken by their Spanish counterparts in the 1990s. In all these cases, classical push and pull factors have been driving their emergence. But a decisive helping hand for these multilatinas over the past decade has been the declining cost of capital. This financial dimension is driving the leap from overseas sales to overseas acquisitions, a phenomenon that will be explored in this article.