The Colombian Growth Story: From Rampant Violence To Investments

As allegedly reported by the media and with a common perception of being a nation of rich in drug peddling, abductions and murders, the Republic of Colombia has undergone a remarkable transformation over the past decade. Colombia has been fighting to prove that it is a safe and worthwhile investment destination and has now put itself firmly back onto the investment map. Transforming itself from the Drug capital of the world to a nation attracting strong foreign investment in recent years, Colombia's strong fundamentals stand out. Not only has Colombia been recognized as one of the best pro-business reformers globally in recent years by the World Bank, the country's $130 billion economy, a world leader in the production of coffee, petroleum, textiles, and flowers, is growing at 6.8% a year, two full points faster than the Latin American average. Colombian economy has experienced tremendous growth, benefiting from a commodity boom and sound policies that stimulated growth. The Colombian economy is arguably the largest in Latin America after Brazil, Mexico and the forever in transit economy of Argentina, with one of the largest deposits of oil and natural gas deposits in Latin America.

The lush green tropical jungle country of Colombia has one of the largest deposits of green gem emerald mostly exported to jewelry producing nations. Named after Christopher Columbus by the South American liberator Simon Bolivar, the modern day Colombia continues to be a dark spot on their investment horizon or some investors. Even though, the country's notorious past acts as a speed breaker preventing foreigners from investing in this Latin American nation, the fact is that every indicator of violence in Colombia including homicides, kidnappings, and acts of terrorism have declined significantly over the past eight years.

• Terrorist acts are down 84% from 2002.
• Homicides have dropped 45 percent from 2002 through 2009 – the lowest homicide rate in 22 years.
• Kidnappings have dropped significantly, down 88% from 2002, also now at the lowest rate in 22 years.
• Today Colombia has a lower violent crime rate than many major U.S. cities.

Far from being a dangerous place to even visit, leave alone considering any thoughts of investment, Colombia is slowly but surely transforming itself into a Latin American success story with its free-market approach to its economy.

• According to Bloomberg data, Colombia is forecast to attract about $10 billion in foreign direct investment this year, up from about $7.5 billion last year.
  

• Colombia's stock market has increased 14-fold since 2001 with a still modest total capitalization of $59 billion.
  

• Colombia is seen as a trustworthy ally by the United States amid its deteriorating ties with Venezuela and Ecuador. The U.S. has sent $5 billion in aid to Colombia since the year 2000 making it the 4th largest financial aid recipient of the U.S.

• In the past 10 years, Colombia has slashed its inflation rate from 18% to 5%, and since President Alvaro Uribe was elected in 2002, unemployment has dipped from 16% to 13%.

• Not only has Columbia been the best performing stock market this year, posting a double digit gain as opposed to all major markets that are down for the year, Colombia has blown away all challengers over the last decade posting an 34.5% annualized return.

• Colombia has abundant natural resources, including gold, silver, copper, coal, oil, gas, and more, a good deal of which remains under explored. Global gold mining companies are likely to invest as much as 4.5 billion U.S. dollars over the next ten years in Colombia attracted by rich unexplored regions and soaring prices of the commodity.

The Colombian Stock Exchange: The Colombian stock exchange or the Bolsa de Valores de Colombia, also known as Bolsa de Valores (BVC), is the principal stock exchange of Colombia. It was created on July 3, 2001 by the union of three extant stock exchanges in Colombia: Bogota Stock Exchange (Bolsa de Bogota), Medellín Stock Exchange (Bolsa de Medellin)and Cali's Western Stock Exchange (Bolsa de Occidente). The company maintains offices in Bogotá, Medellín and Cali.


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Investing In Mexico: The Vibrant Latin American Economy

For years the most prominent feature of Mexico has been its exotic cuisine with all its varied flavors, colorful decoration, and variety of spices while investment options were never taken seriously. Investors for long have viewed other Latin American economies like Brazil and Argentina with more interest discussing plans possibly sitting in a restaurant serving Mexican cuisine. While Mexico doesn't quite enjoy the celebrity status of rival Brazil, there is no denying the fact that the country is undergoing something of an economic renaissance. With its last financial crisis more than 10 years behind it, Mexico is enjoying record foreign currency reserves and an investment-grade debt rating, thanks to much-improved fiscal discipline. It even boasts several companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ and dozens of others that trade over the counter. Money managers are especially keen on stocks in the residential construction business as more and more Mexicans qualify for loans to build their own homes.

• The Mexican economy rebounded in the first quarter of this year, expanding more than 4 % from a year earlier after contracting 2.3 % in the last three months of 2009.

• Mexico’s international reserves reached a record $95.7 billion in March. The oil and manufacturing sectors are showing strong improvements and Mexican exports increased by 39% in March relative to March 2009.

• The automotive industry, one of the most important industries in the country, is recovering strongly with production and exports up in the first four months of this year. The unemployment rate in the first quarter stood at 5.3%.

• Rich in farmland, silver and copper, Mexico is the world’s 11th largest economy and is known for being a free trade economy that is heavily geared towards exports. Mexico’s trade is based on free trade agreements with more than 40 countries, including Japan, Israel, EU and various Central and South American countries.

• Mexico provides security and legal protection for foreign investors through Bilateral Investment Treaties (BIT’s) negotiated with 24 countries and a skilled and competitive labor force.

Mexico’s peso has been a major gainer against the dollar in recent weeks as an economic recovery in the U.S. fuels demand for the Latin American nation’s exports. Mexico’s economy is looking at a 5% growth rate as it recovers from the recession this year. The official forecast is set at 4.1%. With as many as six Mexican companies looking to go public this year, a rise in the Mexican IPO activity might just be the catalyst for speeding up the country's economic growth. There are a number of ways to include Mexico in your investment portfolio. Here is a list of some the best performing Mexican ETFs.


Top 7 ETFs To Invest In Mexico

MSCI Mexico Index Fund (EWW): The index measures the performance of the Mexican equity market.

EWW Top Ten Holdings

1. America Movil S.A.B. de C.V. (AMXL): 23.66%
2. Wal-Mart De Mexico SAB de CV (WALMEXV): 9.09%
3. CEMEX SAB de CV (CEMEXCPO): 6.62%
4. Grupo Mexico, S.A.B De C.V (GMEXICOB): 4.94%
5. Grupo Televisa SA (TLEVISACPO): 4.67%
6. Fomento Económico Mexicano, S.A.B. De C.V. (FEMSAUBD): 4.67%
7. Telmex Internacional S.A.B. de C.V. (TELINTL): 3.74%
8. Grupo Financiero Banorte, S.A.B De C.V. (GFNORTEO): 3.61%
9. Telefonos de Mexico,S.A.B. de C.V. (TELMEXL): 3.34%
10. Carso Global Telecom (TELECOMA1): 3.12%

Expense Ratio: 0.52%

EWW Sector Breakdown

Telecom 34.88%
Industrial Materials 21.21%
Consumer Goods 13.59%
Financials 11.48%
Consumer Services 10.25%
Media 5.09%
Business Services 2.82%
Health Care 0.39%

Mexico Fund Inc. (MXF): The Mexico Fund, Inc. (the Fund) is a closed-end, non-diversified management investment company. The Fund's investment objective is to seek long-term capital appreciation through investment in securities, primarily equity, listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange. The Fund may invest in Mexican fixed-income securities and bank time deposits of Mexican banks.

Top 10 Holdings

America Movil, S.A.B. de C.V. 19.23%
Wal-Mart De Mexico SAB de CV 10.46%
Grupo Mexico SA De CV Gmexico 7.54%
Grupo Televisa SA 4.99%
Fomento Económico Mexicano, S.A.B. De C.V. 4.21%
Kimberly Clark de Mexico SA de CV 4.04%
GPO BIMBO SAB 3.75%
Cemex S.A. 3.74%
Mexichem, S.A.B De C.V 3.74%
Grupo Financiero Banorte, S.A.B De C.V. 3.33%


Total Expense Ratio: 1.72

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Mexico Investment Guide: Mexican Stocks And ADRs

Mexico was in the international headlines for all the wrong reasons last year after the deadly outbreak of the H1N1 flu virus that sparked a global pandemic closing schools and businesses for two weeks in the country. The outbreak not only resulted in a big drop in tourism revenue of Mexico but also came as a major blow to the Mexican economy that had been already gripped by the effects of the global financial crisis. Mexico's capital market activity has hence slowly picked up from the lows of 2009 and is slowly but surely moving towards an economic resurgence. Testimony to the fact is that the Mexican economy has rebounded in the first quarter of this year, expanding more than 4 % from a year earlier after contracting 2.3 % in the last three months of 2009. With as many as six Mexican companies looking to go public this year, a rise in the Mexican IPO activity might just be the catalyst for speeding up the country's economic growth. Private-sector economists believe that Mexico is likely to grow at 4.2 % this year resulting in a strong rally in the BMV’s benchmark IPC index, which hit an all-time high of 34,134 points on April 15. During the past 12 months, the index has gained almost 50 % in value.

Before discussing the possibilities of investing in Mexico or including Mexican stocks in your investment portfolio, its important to understand the new dynamic changes at the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores or the Mexican Stock Exchange after it successfully offered its shares to the public and became a listed company on 13 June 2008. More than 13,600 individual investors bought shares in the IPO, making BMV a widely held public company. BMV (the company) trades on the Mexican Stock Exchange under the ticker code BOLSAA for it’s A shares. BMV is an actively traded stock, and from 1 February 2009 its A shares were included in the BMV's own IPC index of the top 35 Mexican stocks for the first time.


Overview Of The Mexico Stock Exchange:

The Bolsa Mexicana de Valores, also referred to as BMV or the Mexican Stock Exchange, is the chief stock exchange in Mexico. Located in Mexico City at Paseo de la Reforma, BMV is a private limited company. Shareholders of Mexico's stock exchange are all brokerage firms. BMV trades in debt instruments such as CETES (Federal Treasury Certificates); investment unit bonds, BONDES (federal government development bonds); Bankers acceptances, development bank bonds, warrants, debentures, stocks, mutual fund shares and so forth. The BMV-SENTRA Equities System allows for trading to take place electronically.

The Mexican Stock Exchange deals with 13 indices of stock prices. The IPC or Índice de Precios y Cotizaciones is the benchmark stock index and is the widest indicator of the stock market's complete performance. A number of companies are listed with the Bolsa Mexicana de Volores. Amongst the top companies on Mexico's Stock Exchange are Cemex (cement maker); América Móvil (wireless communications); Telmex (telecommunications); Televisa (media) and Grupo Corvi (consumer products distribution).

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Exploring Investment Opportunities In Peru

As the world fights hard to control global economic downturn and volatile markets more and more investors are now seriously considering investment options in emerging economies that can offer a much better return to their investments both in the short as well as the long term. Since most investors have already been looking at emerging economies for a long time, the most talked about emerging economies like BRIC nations have also been over invested and overheated. With the global population of the planet increasing by the day, it makes much more investment sense to look at nations with Commodity based economies rather than just investing in emerging economies as a fad.

Arguably one of the most important commodity based economies after Chile is the Latin American nation of Peru. Peru's government can definitely take a leaf out of Chile's book by offering more incentives by opening up and showcasing a cleaner and an investment friendly environment. If Peru can manage its policies accordingly, there is a potential for a lot of global investment in this Andean nation.

Peru is a country that features practically all of the planet's climates, with remarkable natural, mining, and power resources. According to FAO figures, Peru, the third largest country in South America has 7.6 million hectares with immediate agricultural potential, but less than 3.6 million are actually used. This paves the way for a good Agriculture based commodity segment as an investment opportunity.

The country’s top exports apart from Agriculture products include copper, gold, zinc and crude oil. Furthermore, the country’s Ministry of Energy and Mines estimates that only a 10% of the overall national territory with mining potential has been explored so far.

Peru is a member of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), which facilitates the mechanism development of the economic-trade cooperation with other 20 powerful economies. Peru is, likewise, is one of the 5 country members of the Andean Community of Nations, which has more than 120 million inhabitants and an overall GDP of around US$ 300.00 billion.

• Peru ranks fifth worldwide in gold production (first in Latin America), second in copper, and is among the top 5 producers of lead and zinc.

• Peru has also signed agreements for the promotion and protection of investments (BIT) with 29 countries of Europe, Asia and Latin America

• Around 8 million hectares are suitable for agricultural farming, 18 million hectares for pasture and 49 million hectares for sustainable forest activities (besides 54 million hectares of protection lands).

• Peru is the leading exporter of asparagus and paprika in the world, the leading producer of fishmeal, oil, Alpaca and Vicuña fibers and is also the leading producer of silver worldwide.

Investing In Peru:

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