BY CHRONICLE STAFF
Other top deals included the $12.3 billion purchase of Brazilian bank Unibanco by Brazilian bank Banco Itau, the $10.3 billion purchase of the Sao Paulo stock exchange Bovespa by the commodities exchange BM&F and the $5.5 billion sale of Brazilian mining company IronX Mineracao to UK-based Anglo-American.
Latin America was also indirectly involved in the largest M&A deal worldwide last year - the $52 billion sale of
"That a Brazilian-controlled company could acquire such an American icon, and assemble $50 billion of financing to pay for it in the midst of the worst global financial crisis in 80 years -- theres no question that Latin American companies are lead players on the global M&A playing field," says Paul Schnell, an M&A lawyer who is head of the Latin America practice at U.S.-based law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, which represented Anheuser-Busch in the deal. "The InBev/Anheuser-Busch deal had it all -- the largest cash hostile deal over for a
TOTAL DEALS
All in all, there were 1,610 M&A deals announced in
"In past global slowdowns, Latin America always fared far worse than the
Keywords: Antofagasta, Bimbo, Brazil, Cemex, Cepsa, Chile, Colombia, CTC, D&S, Ecopetrol, Inbursa, JBS, Marubeni, Telefonica, Vale, Venezuela, Wal-Mart, YPF