Posted on 08/16/2008 6:57:44 PM PDT by FormerACLUmember
London: Billionaire investor George Soros bought an $811 million stake in Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) in the second quarter, making the Brazilian state-controlled oil company his investment fund's largest holding.
As of June 30, the stake in Petrobras, as the Rio de Janeiro-based oil producer is known, made up 22 per cent of the $3.68 billion of stocks and American depositary receipts held by Soros Fund Management, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Petrobras has since slumped 28 per cent.
Soros has increased his mining and commodities holdings, a move that accelerated in the first quarter with purchases of such companies as Cia. Vale do Rio Doce, the world's largest iron-ore producer, and Talisman Energy, a Canadian oil and gas company. In November, Petrobras announced the discovery of Tupi, a field with as much as 8 billion barrels of reserves, making it the largest find in the Americas since 1976.
"Petrobras has something that other oil companies don't have: oil - lots of it and they're going to find more," said Ricardo Kob-ayashi, equity fund manager with UBS Pactual in Rio de Janeiro.
"If you can buy now and hang on, if you have the staying power, it's great."
Tupi is part of a new deepwater offshore region known as the pre-salt that may contain as much as 50 billion barrels, according to Peter Wells, oil analyst with the UK's Neftex Petroleum Consultants.
The drop in Petrobras' US-traded common shares since June 30 would have reduced the value of Soros's disclosed stake by $235 million.
Soros Fund Management didn't report holding any Petrobras shares at the end of the first quarter. It did disclose much smaller stakes in the Brazilian oil company during 2007, including 150,000 depositary shares, with a market value of about $17.3 million at December 31.
The hedge fund company also had calls on another 35,000 shares at December 31. Petrobras shares traded at an average closing price of $64.83 each during the second quarter, when Soros bought the stake.
The shares on Friday dropped 91 centavos, or 1.8 per cent, to $50.68 in New York, valuing Petrobras at $204.8 billion, the world's 11th-biggest company by market capitalisation.
hates capitalism and democracy?
Exactly the same way Algore and Ted Kennedy does. In fact, you'll notice lots of oil in their backgrounds too.
but i still don’t understand their motives.
ted kennedy has done more than perhaps any politician i can think of to destroy this country.
the immigration act of 1965 was ted’s doing.
asked if it would change the racial make up of the u.s., no they said. but now we find out that white will be a minority in 2040.
I hate to have to admit that Kennedy won. And I hate his guts even more than ever for winning. He won and we lost. That sucks.
The key is not reserves in place but recoverable reserves. I took a look at Tupi which is in 10,000 feet of water, sub salt, and I bet the recoverable reserves is 10-17% of reserves in place. Cost for drilling and equipping one well is probably 300 million dollars. For 100 wells, that is a whopping investment, and that doesnt include the topsides.
Deepwater sub salt drilling is tricky business, and before people get stars in their eyes about big reserves, they better realize it is not a big tank down there.
Billionaire investor George Soros bought an $811 million stake in Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) in the second quarter, making the Brazilian state-controlled oil company his investment fund's largest holding.
I'll take a stab at this but keep in mind I could be off base. It seems ol'Soros and the Bush family had some energy dealings back in the 1970s. Both are for globalization but they part ways on the type of globalization. Bush Sr. and Bush Jr. see globalization through legitimate means with transparency via trade agreements with clauses for workers, rights, etc. On the other hand, Soros likes taking advantage of globalization under the table Mafia style without a lot of checks and balances or fair trade agreements.
This is why Soros hates the Bush family so much. The Bush family is basically destroying Soros' system for under handed dealing. But Soros makes huge amounts of money anyways so I am not sure what his beef is. I suppose fair trade makes it harder for Soros to obtain what he wants. And what he wants is anybody's guess but for sure he wants to achieve it through unethical means.
Either way, Bush Sr. and Bush Jr. pissed on his parade and he ain't happy about it.
yours is the best answer that i’ve received on several threads.
if your thesis is true, then after the bushes are out of power, then soros should lighten up on the pubies?
he’ll find john mccain more to his liking?
Don’t take my sentences out of context.
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