FOLHA DE S. PAULO (Brazil)
BEIJING – China made its largest investment of early 2012 in fellow BRIC Brazil by acquiring 30% of Petrogal Brasil, a subsidiary of Portuguese company Galp Energia. State-owned Sinopec, or Chinese Petrochemical Company, paid $4.8 billion for the aquisition. Overall, China invested $21.4 billion abroad from January to March, a 118% increase from the same period last year.
Chinese premier Wen Jiabao said earlier this month that bilateral trade with Brazil will break the $100 billion barrier this year. He met Brazilian Chamber of Deputies president Marco Maia, who is leading a comittee to China. China is the largest Brazilian business partner since 2009.
Petrogal Brasil is a prime target for Chinese investments, which concentrate on energy and natural resources companies. In May, another Chinese company, State Grid, bought seven energy transmission lines in Brazil. It paid $531 million and assumed another $411 million in debts.