Odebrecht establishes international business

Latin America’s largest contractor, Odebrecht, has set up an international company to bid for construction contracts abroad. Under the structure, Construtora Norberto Odebrecht will focus on the domestic market, and the new entity, Odebrecht Global, will seek business outside Brazil.

Construtora Norberto Odebrecht, which was established in 1944, has some history of international work, and has subsidiaries in a number of Latin American countries, including Peru. It is not clear whether these overseas subsidiaries will be rolled into Odebrecht Global.

According to the company, establishing a specialised unit for international work will allow Odebrecht to compete more competitively for international work and win better terms, while still leveraging the size and strength of the parent company.

Odebrecht was ranked 30^th in last year’s iC 200 league table of the world’s 200 largest construction companies. According to sister magazine Construction Latin America (CLA), it is by far the largest construction company in Brazil and the wider Latin American region.