Latin American firms leap from Spain to rest of Europe

MADRID, June 29 (AFP): Spanish firms seeking to escape a sluggish eurozone are heading in ever greater numbers to reap the financial benefits of doing business in the faster-paced economies of Latin America.

But the corporate business traffic now runs in both directions: Latin American groups are building business links with Spain as a gateway to entering the rest of Europe.

On a visit to Madrid this month by Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, for example, Spanish business chiefs, from the leaders of major bank BBVA to energy giant Iberdrola, lined up to meet with him.

Indeed, Spain's firms fall easily for Mexico's charms: an economy expected to grow five per cent annually in the years ahead and which plans to invest 440 billion euros ($600 billion) up to the end of 2018, notably in energy and telecommunications.

More generally, "we are witnessing a major boom in infrastructure construction in Latin America for the next decade," explained Juan Carlos Martinez Lazaro, lecturer at the IE Business School.