BlackRock - Investing in Brazil

BlackRock is a global asset management firm with a Latin American fund composed of many Brazilian companies. Financial Times published a recent article explaining how the company is banking on Brazilian growth. Will Landers, the Latin American fund manager, gave his outlook on the country -- "But in Brazil the combination of the domestic growth story, with the Brazilian middle class’s purchasing power continuing to rise, and interest rates as low as they’ve ever been is compelling."

Either BlackRock is lucky or very competent (or both). Their fund has risen in value by 366% in the last five years. Their latest moves include increasing their shares in Petrobras (government controlled monopoly) and Brazil's largest privately controlled bank - Itau, which swallowed up another large competitor, Unibanco. Those sound like safe bets to me!

On a side note, BlackRock is growing tremendously worldwide - both organically and through acquisitions. Take a look at their history chart from their web site.