OHL participates in the 2nd Brazil Business Summit in Paris

Enrique Weickert, Chief Financial Officer of OHL , participated The 2nd Brazil Business Summit held this past July 7th in Paris. The CFO shared his views on the outlook for Brazil and, together with the other speakers, delved into the challenges, risks and opportunities offered in the region.

Mr. Weickert participated in the panel on infrastructure investments in Brazil with Benedicto Barbosa da Silva Júnior, president and CEO of Odebrecht Infrastructure and Leonardo Guimarães Corrêa, Chief Financial Officer of MRV Engenharia.

In his speech The CFO highlighted that, economically, Brazil is “a land of opportunity “and recalled that, according to IMF estimates, economic growth in the region will reach 4.5% in 2011, one of the highest gains in Latin America.

He also noted that Brazil has major infrastructure projects in the medium and long term developed through the so-called Growth Acceleration Programs (PAC 1 and PAC 2), as well as that for the upcoming Olympic Games 2016 and the 2014 World Cup.

Mr. Wieckert went on to say that infrastructure is a basic pillar for growth in any country and, in a crisis situation like the present, it is essential that we “supplement the limited availability of public coffers with private resources”.

Focusing on OHL and the group’s positioning in Brazil, the CFO declared that Brazil is a “strategic country for the Group” and, at the close of 2010, accounted for 19% of sales, 37.2% of EBITDA, 36.5% of Net Profit and 32% of long term backlog. Mr. Wieckert also explained that, in the field of infrastructure, OHL is the seventh largest concession holder in the world and the largest private investor in Latin America.