Noticias Business Pro

The Spanish agency SCPF to re-launch Movida Celular in Miami

“The Latino world speaks” is the motto with which the advertising agency SCPF has been awarded an advertising contract with the telephone company Movida Cellular of the Cisneros Group. According to the Spanish advertising company, it was chosen as representative through a request for tenders.

SCPF has offices in Barcelona, Madrid, and Lisbon, and as of ten months also in Miami, through which it will now target its efforts at the US-Hispanic market.

Mapfre, the best insurance company in America

The multinational insurance company Mapfre USA has been chosen as the “Best Latin-American Insurance Company” by Reactions, a publication of the Euromoney Group, which specializes in the insurance sector.

The award was conferred in New York by the president of Mapfre USA, Jaime Tamayo. “Mapfre received 25 percent of the votes, while the company that came in second place only received 5 percent,” explained a report published by the Spanish insurance company.

This is the first time Mapfre has received this reward. In the past three years, the prize had been awarded to the U.S. Company American International Group (AIG).

Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo opens its doors in Miami

Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo (CAM) has opened the doors of its first international branch in Miami, after having successfully passed its pre-opening exam and fulfilled all of the regulations specified by the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States.

The CAM-Miami Branch will dedicate itself to the financial analysis of investment projects on American soil as well as work in consultation to clients involved in international trade either from or to the United States.

In the past fiscal year, CAM has totaled assets of over 82 billion Euros, a figure that consolidates its solid establishment in the region, its strong profitability, as well as its high standard of business practice.

Iberdrola: A market leader in renewable energy in the United States

The development of renewable energy in the United States is becoming one of the most important market objectives for the company Iberdrola.

In this regards, the subsidiary company of Iberdrola in the United States, Community Energy Inc., is leading the way by marketing Green-certified energy to the Northeastern U.S., and now supplies around 75,000 household as well as 350 industrial and commercial clients. The company sustains a portfolio of wind energy projects that produce over 2000 Megawatts of energy along the eastern seaboard, as well as another 200 Megawatts of potential energy sources in current development.

The Spanish company has also created the subsidiary Iberdrola Renewable Energies USA Ltd. as part of its expansion project in the United States, headquartered in North Virginia.

The U.S. Navy contracts Indra to modernize its helicopter simulator H-60

The U.S. Navy has awarded Indra Systems, a subsidiary of the U.S. Company Indra, a contract of 30 million dollars to modernize eight H-60 Seahawk helicopter simulators located on the military bases of North Island in California, and Maypot and Jacksonville in Florida. The H-60 is employed more than any other helicopter in the Western world and is dedicated to the movement of troops and materials, as well as to Search and Rescue missions, anti-marine warfare, and the detection and neutralization of landmines.

Indra’s proposal was selected as part of a public request for tenders in which the best North-American simulation companies competed.

The Great Telescope Canary Islands presented in Miami

The Government of the Canary Islands celebrated, surrounded in Miami by numerous world leaders in education and technology from the U.S., Mexico and Spain, the participation of the University of Florida in The Great Telescope Canary Islands project, also known as “Grantecan.”

The University of Florida invested nearly 12 million dollars in the Canary Islands as a founding member in the development of this project, which will be considered the world’s most powerful telescope.

Grantecan’s debut was celebrated as part of a meeting of Astrophysicists that took place last summer in Miami, Florida.

Banco Sabadell named “Best Company of 2006”

The Board of Directors for the Spain-U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Miami has named the banking company Banco Sabadell “The Company of the Year 2006.” “Sabadell is the fourth banking group of Spain, and is formed by various banking trade associations that embrace the entire range of financial services with one denominator in common: professionalism and quality.” In the same way, “the organization is backed by a team of very qualified professionals whose know-how has gained them a distinguished position in the world of personal and business banking, both at the national and international level,” as highlighted by the Chamber.

The award will be conferred during the 27th anniversary celebration of the Spain-U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s inauguration, to be held in the Four Seasons Hotel in Miami.

Telefónica inaugurates Business Continuity Resource Center in Florida

The company Telefónica has inaugurated the first Business-Emergency Resource Center in the South of Florida, in the city of El Doral. Its aim is to assist companies in need in the eventual case of an emergency or natural disaster, like the impact hurricanes continually have in this region. The Resource Center for Businesses relies on the most technologically advanced provisions, amongst them being: Category 5 computer installation toolkits, connection to the Global IP Telefónica network system, a 24/7 security back-up system, as well as uninterrupted electrical service.

ACS closes a deal to operate one of the biggest ports in the United States

The Spanish construction firm ACS has just set foot on the Texan port of Corpus Christi, considered the seventh largest port in the United States. The logistics company subsidiary Dragados SPL has closed a deal to develop alongside the Texan port of Corpus Christi a new Terminal of containers now known as “La Quinta.”

As a result of this agreement, the port will undertake ownership of the new Terminal and will also invest some 65 million dollars in its construction. Dragados SPL, for its part, will be responsible for its administration and operation, a concession granted for a period of 50 years.

The American company Dean Foods acquires Leche Celta

The Portuguese dairy company Lactogal has reached an agreement with Dean Foods for the acquisition of Leche Celta companies in both Spain and Portugal. As both companies have indicated, this move will place Lactogal as the market’s top leader in dairy production with annual sales estimated to reach over one billion Euros in both Spain and Portugal.

North American law firms seek local members in order to penetrate the Spanish market

The buying and selling of companies that involved an investment of 115 billion from January to February in Spain, has placed the Spanish legal world under the spotlight of American legal firms. The U.S. legal firms seeking member companies to set themselves up in Spain are Latham & Watkins, Shearman & Sterling, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, and Case & White, according to Spanish Newspaper “ABC.” These four firms hope to participate in the overactive buying frenzy of Spanish companies so to locate investors interested in introducing their firm to the Spanish market. Even should it seem, this has up to now been no easy task.

The Spanish legal market is led by three main firms: Garrigues, Cuatrecasas, and Uría Menéndez. The most important American firm in Spain is Backer & McKenzie which, with an annual revenue of over 43.5 million Euros, is the fifth largest company in Spain in terms of billing volume.

Schroders advises to invest in large U.S. companies

According to the global asset company Schroders, investment schemes that one finds in so-called mega cap businesses are today controlled by the 20 largest companies in the United States. Even so, all other companies “also share in the opportunity to do business and generate quite a high level of cash-flow, in fact double of that in 1995.” According to the experts at Schroders, this business activity “is in fact that which underpins the most important acquisitions and mergers.” Additionally, they warn that the North American economy is far from being exhausted, due mainly to the growth of marginal business activity as well as internal consumption levels.

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