The acquisition is partly conducted by way of a capital increase at Frefer Group, and thus, further funds for expansion will be available in the company.

The Frefer Group is a flat steel focused distribution and service center company with around 360 employees at 14 locations in Brazil and 2010 sales of approx. 340 million reais (approx. €150 million). The company even outpaced the already strong market growth in recent years.

Gisbert Rühl, Chairman of the Executive Board of Klöckner & Co said the acquisition creates the Company’s first foothold in the emerging markets of South America.  Klöckner & Co is thus making a further important step in the implementation of its Klöckner & Co 2020 strategy after the acquisition of Macsteel USA a few days ago, said Mr Ruhl.

According to Ruhl, Klöckner & Co’s entry into the emerging markets is intended to help the Company pursue the goal of participating in the strong growth in steel consumption within the South America region and will put the Company into a better position to balance out the various world market phases.

The entry into the Brazilian market is particularly attractive, not least because of the increased steel consumption that will result from its hosting of the Soccer World Cup and the Olympic Games, noted Ruhl.

With Frefer, Klöckner & Co will take advantage of a strong market position right from the start, which will allow the company to participate disproportionately in the developments, said Ruhl.

The acquisition is taking place at a price that is 6.5 times the projected average EBITDA over a five-year planning horizon. The owner, who will retain ownership of the remaining 30% shares, will continue in his capacity as CEO of the company. Put and call options have been negotiated for the possible subsequent transfer of minority interests which guarantee exclusivity and whose parameters have already been determined.

The Frefer Group is the third-largest independent steel and metal distributor in Brazil. At 14 locations with its 360 employees, the company realized sales of approx. 340 million reais (approx. €150 million) in the fiscal year 2010.

Klöckner & Co is the largest producer-independent distributor of steel and metal products and one of the leading steel service center companies in the European and North American markets combined.

CDC Brasil is a value-added distributor that sells only to resellers and offers many of the same industry-leading products that ScanSource, Inc. provides.

Elias Botbol, president of ScanSource Latin America, said Brazil has been the missing piece in the firm’s Latin America strategy and to complete that puzzle with CDC Brasil is very exciting for ScanSource.

According to Botbol, in-country representation allows ScanSource to more easily scale, as well as manage complicated import processes, tax structures, and IT system requirements. With Brazil, ScanSource will now have full Latin America coverage, said Botbol.

The transaction is structured as an all cash share purchase with an initial cash payment and annual earn-out through June 30, 2015. Under the terms of the Agreement, ScanSource will make an initial purchase price payment of R$57,300,000 (approx. $35, 400,000) and assume working capital debt at closing. As of March 31, 2011, CDC’s debt, net of cash, was R$1,900,000 (approx. $1,200,000).

The experienced Brazilian management team of CDC Brasil will remain in place, becoming management of ScanSource do Brasil. This management team, which founded the company in 2003, has more than 55 years of industry experience and has grown CDC Brasil to be the leading distributor in Brazil. Current CDC Brasil president, Alexandre Conde, will be named president of ScanSource Brasil and will report to Elias Botbol, president of ScanSource Latin America.

Mike Baur, CEO, ScanSource Inc., said the Brazilian market represents a great opportunity for ScanSource. Because of Brazil’s unique business climate and high growth potential in ScanSource’s industry, ScanSource felt important to have an in-country presence, said Baur.

Baur reiterated that CDC Brasil is a perfect fit for ScanSource. According to him, CDC is extremely well respected by their customers and vendors have a management culture similar to ScanSource and are a very profitable company with great growth potential.

The remaining purchase price paid in annual cash installments will be based upon the annual financial performance of CDC Brasil during the earn-out period. The potential total purchase consideration of the business without assuming any increase or decrease in earnings is approximately R$103,000,000 (approx. $63,600,000). CDC Brasil has offices in Sao Paulo, Curitiba and Recife.

The UK based SABMiller is the world’s second- largest brewer by volume. The company has brewing and beverage interests across Latin America, Europe, North America, Africa, Asia and South Africa. According to the RTT News report, Heineken NV, based in Amsterdam, Netherlands is also interested in the Brazilian brewer.

SABMiller plc is a holding company, which has brewing and beverage interests across six continents: Latin America, Europe, North America, Africa, Asia and South Africa. The Company is engaged in the manufacture, distribution and sale of beverages.

SABMiller’s portfolio of brands includes international beers, such as Pilsner Urquell, Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Miller Genuine Draft and Grolsch, as well as local brands, such as Aguila, Castle, Miller Lite, Snow and Tyskie. The Company is also bottlers of Coca-Cola products.

SABMiller has embarked on a string of global acquisitions aimed at consolidating its position and enhancing its global offering. In May 2009, the Company acquired the outstanding 28.1 per cent minority interest in its Polish subsidiary, Kompania Piwowarska SA, from Kulczyk Holding SA.

In April 2009, the Company’s Romanian subsidiary Ursus Breweries SA assumed control over 71 per cent of the issued share capital of Bere Azuga SA in Romania. In February 2010, the Company’s subsidiary Ruwenzori Bottling Company Limited acquired the assets of the Ruwenzori water business in Uganda.

Just recently, SABMiller Africa announced an investment of over US $100 million in building a new greenfield brewery in Onitsha, in South Eastern Nigeria. This followed the successful acquisitions of Pabod Breweries Ltd (Port Harcourt) and Voltic Nigeria Limited (Lagos) in 2009. The investments indicate an increased global acquisition strategy that aims at reinforcing the UK firm’s offering in all its areas of operations.

Over the past five years SABMiller has invested over US $1 billion in Africa only. The planned Brazilian investment is an indication of the firm’s commitment to increase its capacity further and to consolidate its position as a leading international brewer in Latin America. According to SABMiller, the expansion strategy is aimed at reinforcing its global offering whilst contributing positively to the local communities in which it operates.

Manulife manages funds from a variety of assets including equities and fixed-income investments, as well as real estate, forestry and agriculture. The company is a subsidiary of Manulife Financial, which had over US$174 billion in its portfolio as of September 2010.

Manulife Financial is a leading Canadian-based financial services group serving millions of clients in 22 countries and territories worldwide. The firm’s international network of employees, agents and distribution partners offers financial protection and wealth management products and services.

These products and services include individual life insurance, group life and health insurance, long-term care services, pension products, annuities, mutual funds and banking products. Manulife provides asset management services to institutional customers worldwide and offers reinsurance solutions, specializing in life and property and casualty retrocession.

The Company operates in Canada and Asia through the brand name “Manulife Financial” and in the United States primarily through the brand name “John Hancock“.

Established in 2007, LLX is the port terminals logistics company of the EBX Group. LLX was established to address the rapid growth of the Brazilian economy and the country’s need for greater access to global markets via the world’s major shipping routes. Since the company’s inception, it has built two large capacity, mixed use port terminals that are strategically located in the Southeast of Brazil, an area that represents approximately 75% of Brazilian GDP. These terminals are among the most modern port terminals anywhere in the world.

LLX runs the Açu Superport, located in São João da Barra, and the Sudeste Port, in Itaguaí, both in Rio de Janeiro. The firm partners with strategic partners in the development and financing of its port terminals. Such partners include Anglo American, one of the world’s largest mining companies, and OTPP, one of the largest pension funds in Canada.

LLX is listed on the Novo Mercado (“New Market”) of the São Paulo Stock Exchange. Eike Batista embarked on an acquisition and partnerships strategy last year, aimed at enhancing LLX’s position in Brazil and internationally. The firm has operations in the Brazilian oil and gas industry as well, for which it partners with a number of firms.

The plant will produce two-piece aluminum beverage cans in multiple sizes and is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2012. The new plant will have an initial annual capacity of 1 billion cans and be designed to support additional production lines as future market needs require.

Raymond L. McGowan, President of Crown’s Americas Division, noted that Belém, with a population of over 2 million people is strategically located at the entrance to the Amazon region. It is an ideal location from which to expand to meet growing customer demand for beer and soft drink cans, he said.

Crown has been operating in Brazil since 1942 and has two-piece aluminum beverage can plants in Cabreúva, Estância and Ponta Grossa and a beverage end plant in Manaus. The Company is in the process of adding additional beverage can lines at its Estância and Ponta Grossa plants. When all of these projects are commercialized, Crown will have annual production capacity of 7.5 billion cans in Brazil.

Crown Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is a leading supplier of packaging products to consumer marketing companies around the world. World headquarters are located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Other than Crown Holdings investment, Packaging giant Ball as well announced plans to build a new beverage can plant in Brazil as part of its wider growth strategy to expand further in emerging markets.

Ball announced that Latapack-Ball Embalagens, the company’s majority-owned beverage can joint venture in Brazil, plans to open a factory in Alagoinhas, Bahia. The plant will initially operate one manufacturing line for multiple aluminum can sizes, and is expected to start up in early 2012.

Raymond J. Seabrook, executive vice president and chief operating officer of global packaging operations said the beverage can continues its strong growth in Brazil, and Alagoinhas is located in northeast Brazil, one of the fastest growing regions in the country. Ball also recently added a second production line to its Tres Rios plant in Brazil during the first quarter of 2011.

Seabrook said that increasing demand for specialty sizes in Brazil was providing additional opportunities for the can business.

GuardeAqui is Brazil’s first and leading self-storage operating company with a highly diverse range of commercial and residential tenants. The Company has effectively established the self-storage industry in Brazil and is uniquely positioned to lead the next phase of extraordinary growth.

GuardeAqui currently owns and operates three facilities in key locations in the São Paulo metropolitan area including Lapa, Liberdade and Santo Amaro. The Company is the dominant Brazilian self-storage owner/operator.

Gary Garrabrant, chief executive officer of Equity International, said the firm is regularly at the vanguard of new markets and industry sectors. He noted GuardeAqui represents another first for the firm in one of the most promising real estate sectors in Brazil. Garrabrant said Equity International is recognized as a leading investor and builder of companies, adding the investment provides an opportunity to gain from GuardeAqui’s impressive growth, thanks to a growing Brazilian middle class.

The self-storage sector in Brazil is currently small and generally non-professional, characterized by limited competition consisting largely of single-store operators with mixed-quality properties and insufficient capital for meaningful growth. There are approximately 50 self storage facilities in all of Brazil, most of which are concentrated in São Paulo. Given its experienced team, established platform and robust development pipeline, GuardeAqui enjoys a significant first-mover advantage in this compelling yet nascent industry sector.

GuardeAqui’s founder, Mario Fernandez, said the investment from a preeminent investor such as Equity International confirms the strength of GuardeAqui’s platform and growth prospects. According to him, Equity International has set the standard for real estate-related company building outside of the United States and no doubt GuardeAqui will benefit immensely from their many contributions.

Equity International’s investment in GuardeAqui will enable accelerated management and portfolio growth with the objective of creating a national platform. Equity International’s Christopher Fiegen and Gustavo Browne will join the Company’s Board of Directors.

Equity International invests in and builds world-class companies outside the United States, with a particular focus on identifying and initiating high-growth sectors in the most compelling emerging markets.

GuardeAqui is the leading self-storage operator in Brazil, providing temporary and long-term storage solutions to commercial and residential customers.

The PONTODOC investment is expected to enable BlueCielo create a strong, operational infrastructure in Brazil and the rest of Latin America. PONTODOC has had a total focus on the sale and support of BlueCielo’s product portfolio since 1997 and holds Brazil’s second-largest market share for the resale of the InnoCielo software suite. PONTODOC’s clients include companies such as major Brazilian oil producer Petrobras, Brazil’s largest mining company Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, key player in Brazilian agribusiness Fosfertil/Ultrafertil, and well-known tyre manufacturer Pirelli.

BlueCielo has the option to further increase its shareholding in PONTODOC as of January 2009. Martijn Janmaat, BlueCielo’s CEO commented that Latin America is strategic for the further growth of the firm. BlueCielo already has a strong base of customers and its aim is to further increase its presence in the region, enabling customers to benefit from direct access to BlueCielo expertise, he said. PONTODOC’s solid success and established presence in Brazil provide BlueCielo with the perfect springboard for its expansion strategy for Latin America, added Janmaat.

PONTODOC’s managing director Julio Cesar Paulino noted that BlueCielo has often counted on PONTODOC in Brazil because the firm has a dedicated focus on InnoCielo products. PONTODOC expects its level of customer support to increase with direct access to BlueCielo and its expert global resources.

BlueCielo ECM Solutions provides Engineering Content Management and Application Integration solutions for owner/operators in multiple vertical industries including energy, oil & gas, petrochemical, government, pharmaceutical, and discrete and process manufacturing. BlueCielo has more than two decades of industry experience with over 275,000 users in 50+ countries worldwide.

The company has offices in the USA, UK, Russia, Germany and the Netherlands, together with an extensive global network of established partners.

PONTODOC is an established specialist in providing and implementing the leading InnoCielo suite of engineering content management solutions. PONTODOC offers dedicated support and service, plus expertise in systems integration and strategic asset management (SAM). BlueCielo and InnoCielo are registered trademarks of BlueCielo ECM Solutions.

The firm Tuesday said it has executed a definitive agreement to acquire XtFt Games S/S Ltda (XtFt), the owner of substantially all the assets of TechFront Desenvolvimento de Software S/S Ltda (TechFront), a social game development studio based in Curitiba, Brazil.

Quepasa will acquire XtFt for net consideration of approximately $4 million, comprised of $3.7 million in shares of Quepasa common stock (as determined by Quepasa’s average closing price over a 10-day period) and a $300,000 brokerage fee. XtFt’s key partners have also been offered option-based retention packages. The transaction will close upon the delivery of all outstanding items outlined in the agreement.

TechFront was founded 5 years ago as a developer of multiplatform console, Web and mobile games. TechFront began developing social games for the Orkut platform last year, in partnership with various international publishers, including U.S. based eGames.

Quepasa chief executive officer, John C. Abbott, said the addition of TechFront’s talented team provides Quepasa with the means to offer and monetize culturally relevant social games to its Quepasa.com member base and other audience networks, like Orkut and Facebook, and eventually to mobile users across Latin America.

This latest investment comes in the wake of a recent deal between Quepasa and the US based eGames, for which Quepasa will publish and promote eGames’ titles on its Quepasa.com, in addition to other third-party social media platforms. The initial five eGames titles to be published and distributed by Quepasa were all developed by TechFront for eGames.

Quepasa expects the XtFt investment to allow its team of 41 full-time game developers focus on developing culturally relevant social gaming IP for the Quepasa platform and other social networks with audiences in Latin America. Other than that, the firm also hopes the investment will better position Quepasa to capitalize, as both a publisher of social games and a platform for playing social games, on the rapid growth and monetization of social games throughout Latin America.

Commenting further, Abbot noted that, as both a publisher of social games and social network, Quepasa will command a greater proportion of the revenues associated with social games on its own platform, while also participating in additional revenues generated on alternative social networks.

The government-owned State Grid will also provide power services to Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, it said in a statement. Brazil has a stable political environment, great development potential and a huge market, with demand for electricity surging rapidly, the firm said.

Brazil’s ANEEL electricity regulator confirmed the deal to AFP and said the purchase of the power distributors was approved in September. A spokesman for ANEEL said the distributors had been bought from the Plena Group, which is controlled by Spanish capital. The takeover is expected to open up access for Chinese companies to more Brazilian power projects and expand exports to the booming South American market, the Chinese statement said.

It is also expected to earn State Grid more than 110 million dollars in annual profits. Chinese firms have ramped up investment in South America in an effort to tap the region’s rapid economic growth. Sinopec, Asia’s top refiner, said earlier this month that it would buy the Argentine arm of US Occidental Petroleum Corporation for 2.45 billion dollars.

The announcement came less than two weeks after China National Offshore Oil Company and Bridas Energy Holdings agreed to buy a 60-percent stake in Argentina-based Pan American Energy from BP for 7.06 billion dollars.

Just recently, the Chinese firm established the State Grid Brazil Holding S.A. According to the firm, the move shows the company’s confidence in Brazilian market. In the future, State Grid would take it as a platform to cooperate with local companies in various forms, actively participate in investing in the power industry in Brazil and promote the development of the industry of the two countries, said the firm.

Brazil and China are BRIC countries. As the demand for electricity grows with rapid economic development, both countries may face uneven distribution of energy resources and demand. Therefore, there is a great potential for cooperation in the power sector. During Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to Brazil in April 2010, he signed the 2010-2014 Joint Action Plan with President Lula, in which energy cooperation was an important part.

The Brazilian firm provides exchange solutions for the insurance industry in Brazil, specializing in Internet interface solutions for insurance companies and their agents. USIX’s portfolio of exchange solutions includes; pricing, multi-quoting for brokers, underwriting, contract binding, and broker-system solutions. The solutions are used in the auto, property, and life (individual and group life) sectors of the insurance industry in Brazil.

Currently, the firm is undertaking the implementation of an on-demand exchange based broker system solution for the thousands of brokers of Bradesco Seguros. From its plans, USIX Technologies will distribute system across 30,000 brokers of Bradesco.

USIX was acquired by Sao Paulo based Ebix Latin America, the existing subsidiary of Ebix Singapore. The closing of the transaction will be completed on 28th September 2010. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to Ebix Earnings per Share (EPS).

USIX Technologies is a provider of Exchange solutions for the insurance industry in Brazil, specializing in Internet interface solutions for insurance companies and their agents. USIX’s portfolio of Exchange solutions includes; pricing, multi-quoting for brokers, underwriting, contract binding and broker system solutions. The solutions are used in the Motor, Property and Life (individual and group life) sectors of the insurance industry in Brazil.

USIX is presently in the process of implementing an on-demand exchange based Broker system solution for the thousands of Brokers of Bradesco Seguros. The solution is targeted to be deployed across 30,000 brokers of Bradesco.

In total, the Brazilian insurance industry comprises around 140 companies, which range from small locally owned companies to large multi-national organizations. Currently the total insurance market revenue is over $57 billion. This industry has been growing over the last 5 years at a 12%-15% average yearly growth rate.

The Life and Retirement Annuities sector alone has grown at an average rate of 25% per annum. This acquisition marks Ebix’s entry into one of the fastest growing Property & Casualty and Life insurance exchange markets in the world. Ebix already runs an Annuity portability Exchange in Brazil that is utilized by 40 different Life insurance Companies today.