Investments in Brazil

Alípio Carlos Tavares Labão

São Paulo Chapter

Member of Sustainability Committee

The United States is by far the country that invests the most in Brazil, amounting to US$ 245 billion, equivalent to 28% of the country's total foreign investments. Next are the Netherlands with US$ 146 billion, Luxembourg with US$ 79 billion, France with US$ 63 billion, and Spain with US$ 61 billion. It is worth noting the growing American interest in rare and critical minerals in Brazil, since it has the second largest reserve in the world, only behind China.

Among the main Middle Eastern investors in Brazil are the countries that make up the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf – as well know as Gulf Cooperation Council –, with a standout being the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.

The United Arab Emirates have investments in Brazil, with the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund (Mubadala) holding about $6 billion. These investments are mainly in energy, sanitation, power grids, and oil refining.

Saudi Arabia recently announced that it intends to invest between $10 billion and $15 billion in Brazil, focusing on critical minerals mining, renewable energy, food security, and defense technology deals. Just in critical minerals mining, about $1.3 billion.

Qatar has already invested around $5 billion in various strategic sectors like energy, the financial market (through the sovereign fund QIA), and aviation, among others.

According to what has been reported by the press, since 2024 Dubai – as the main financial and global hub – intended to inject over US$ 15 billion into infrastructure and logistics, energy and biofuels, agribusiness and industry, defense, and technology with Brazilian companies.

For comparison, China, as our biggest trading partner (Trade Finance), invested $ 6.1 billion last year, that after a 45% increase compared to the previous year. Their investment focus is on mining and electricity.

Through the São Paulo Chapter, we see a huge potential for business and partnerships. Currently, we have started prospecting with several of these sectors in Brazil, which we believe have great possibilities to be presented on our global OBS platform, attracting strategic partners, partners, investors, as well as counterparts for existing and upcoming operations.

In fact, we have been following projects/business cases involving negotiations between Brazilian companies and countries in Europe and Africa interested in investing in technology and innovation developed by Brazilians.

In the economic field this year, however, since delinquency among legal entities in Brazil has risen a lot, makingopeninghem attractive to be acquired fully or partially for a fraction of their value, and since the real interest rate for public debt financing (80% of GDP) is around 9% per year, corporations are very interested in obtaining partnerships and financing from abroad, opening up a road of possibilities for investors everywhere.

We at São Paulo Chapter see this moment, therefore, as a real field of transactions to be started through our OBS business platform – the Global Business Ecosystem.