SPEAKERS INCLUDE:


Mr. Jose Blanco, Chairman

Australia-Latin America Business Council, Australia

Jose Blanco is Country Manager for Australia and New Zealand for Banco Santander, which ranks as the twelfth-largest in the world by market capitalisation, with a network of over 10,800 branches and a leading presence in the major markets of Latin America. Santader currently is the largest regional Latin American Asset Manager

Mr Blanco currently serves as the Chairman of the Australia-Latin America Business Council and the Deputy Chairman of the Australian Government’s Council on Australia Latin America Relations. Since 2001 he has also served as the President of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Australia.

Mr Blanco is a frequent visitor to Latin America and has spoken on Latin American affairs at conferences in Australia, Singapore, New Zealand and in several Latin American countries.

Mr. Bernard Wheelahan, Chair 

 Council on Australia Latin America Relations, Australia

Mr Wheelahan is an independent company director.  He is Chairman of Pacific Hydro Ltd and of the Bass Strait Oil Company.  He is Director of the Gribbles Group Ltd. and Transfield Services Ltd.

As well as Chair of the Council on Australia Latin-American Relations (COALAR), he is a member of the South Australian Sustainable Resources Industries Development Board and a member of the Rio Foundation for a Sustainable Minerals Industry.

He has been a Director of Normandy Mining, Woodside Petroleum and of Shell Australia.  He was also President of Shell Venezuela.

Mr Wheelahan is a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Australian Institute of Energy.

He has been chair of COALAR since its formation was announced by Mr Downer and Mr Vaile in March 2001.

 Mr. Ernest ‘Chip’ Brown, Head Economics Research - Latin America
 
<insert logo> Santander Investment Securities (NY), United States

Ernest W. ("Chip") Brown is Chief Economist and Head of Fixed Income Research for Latin America on August 1st, 2000.

As Head of the Economics Research Group for Latin America, Mr. Brown develops Santander Latin American  view on macroeconomic, political, and sovereign ratings issues and integrates that view into both the equity and fixed-income strategies while also working closely with sales and trading. This supplements the economics product originating from Santander Latin American local offices. Mr. Brown is also Head of Fixed Income Research, including sovereign risk research, corporate bond analysis and foreign exchange research.

Prior to Santander Central Hispano, Mr. Brown worked at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter as Principal and Senior Economist for Latin America. In 1993, at Morgan Stanley, he started the highly honored economics research unit for equity research, being ranked #2 or #3 from 1993 through 1998 in Institutional Investor poll for best Latin America economist, and was subsequently ranked #3 in 2000, and runner-up in 2002.

Mr. Brown has been ranked by the following publications: Institutional Investor Latin Poll (1994-1998); Institutional Investor Global Poll (1999); Latin Finance (1994-1999), Reuters (1999). Chip regularly publishes in Inside Latin America, Strictly Macro and other publications. Mr. Brown is as well a frequent presenter at, among others: Council of the Americas, Council on Foreign Relations, Inter-American Dialogue, Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Department of State.

 Mr. Tim Harcourt, Chief Economist,
 Austrade, Australia

Tim Harcourt is the chief economist of the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade). As chief economist Tim analyses the global economy to help Australian exporters and helps Austrade devise its own international business strategies. A prolific author and globetrotter, Tim has visited over 40 countries in the past 4 years alone.

Tim is an active commentator in the Australian and international media on economic and trade issues.

Before joining the Austrade, Tim was an economist and industrial advocate with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). Tim has also worked for the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and has overseas experience in the corporate sector in the UK the USA and Israel.

 Mr. Peter Baynes, Ex-CEO,
 PGGW Funds Management, New Zealand 

Peter has had a successful career at Chief Executive level in the New Zealand financial sector spanning the last 20 years. He is a professional economist and prior to his first CEO appointment in the late 1980s he was the Chief Economist of the National Bank there.

In August 2006 Peter was engaged on a consultancy basis by PGG Wrightson to provide advice and leadership to funding the company’s dairy farming activities in Uruguay.  A range of funding alternatives was considered and a full public offer agreed as the best approach. 

NZ Farming Systems Uruguay was established and a successful IPO undertaken just 3 months later which raised $105 million.

In April 2007 an institutional placement raised a further $39 million and a third, complex capital raising in December 2007 (institutional placement + private placement + non-renounceable rights issue) increased the company’s capital base a further $112 million.

NZ Farming Systems Uruguay listed on the main board of NZX in December and, with a market capitalisation of $340 million, qualified for fast-track admission to the NZX 50 index in February 2008 – an impressive achievement for a company that had only been in business for a year.
Peter will share with us today his views on the key ingredients of this very successful capital raising and the lessons to be learned from them.

 Dr. Nicholas Baker, Consul-General & Trade Commissioner, Austrade

Dr Nicholas Baker has been the Australian Trade Commissioner and Consul General based at the Australian Consulate General in Lima since June 2005.

Nicholas is responsible for trade and investment facilitation to Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela. Austrade Lima opened a virtual office in Bogotá in October 2005 to capitalize on growth in the mining and agribusiness markets. His main focus in the Andean region has been the mining, services and agribusiness sectors.

Nicholas Joined the Australian Trade Commission in Oct 1997 as Business Development Manager based in the Australian Embassy, Paris. His marketing and management roles included the education, biotech, consumer goods and food and beverage sectors and in assisting new exporters.

The Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) is the Australian Government’s export and international business facilitation agency. In Latin America Austrade has 7 points of services including Peru, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Brazil.  Austrade assisted over 500 companies gain new business throughout Latin America in a range of diverse sectors capturing over $1billion in new business in 2006-07. Latin American markets are attractive to Australian companies as an investment destination with a particular focus on Mining and Agribusiness sectors. The two leading destinations for Australian investors are Chile and Mexico.

Mr. Norberto Roque, Vice-Secretary for Mining, Mexico Mining Ministry, Mexico

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