The vice president of the group that bears his name, Reinaldo Bertin, was until last week on the other side of the world visiting its prospective new members in a totally new venture for the company: the competition for the high speed train in Brazil. Best known for its slaughterhouses and butchers, the group can be associated with names like Samsung and Hyundai to take the Brazilian leading role in the Korean consortium for the Brazilian high-speed train (TAV).
With annual revenues of about US$ 4.4 billion, the Bertin group works in the area of infrastructure through Contern contractor; Cibe, owner of road concessions, sanitation and energy, and the Gaia Energia, established in 2008 to compete in generation auctions. Together, their infrastructure and construction group earned about US$ 766 million in 2009.
The dispute will be the responsibility of the contractor of the group, which operates mainly in the construction of small hydropower (PCHs), in the works of the sanitation area and roads. Former representative of the Camargo Correa in Argentina, the president of Contern, Anthony Kelson said that if the consortium win, the contractor should be responsible for building part of the line of the bullet train.
Besides Contern, are responsible for the civil works Brazilian smaller engineering contractors, involved with the Koreans, and two foreigners contractors – an Italian company specialized in the construction of tunnels and Iecsa, Argentina’s largest contractor, which won the bidding for the construction of the Buenos Aires-Córdoba High-Speed Train, along with Alstom.
The civil work is estimated at 71% of its US$ 19 billion project – five years of work, it will mean an annual demand of US$ 2.7 billion. After that, Bertin group enters as partner in the franchise, launched within 40 years. According to the calculations presented by the government during this period, the revenue from the train will be US$ 93.6 billion.
The Koreans partners, in addition to providing systems and rolling stock, should bear part of the works of the bullet train. Samsung Engineering & Construction has an international division and is interested in participating in the work of the bullet train – but is a moderate participation, probably limited to 20% of the project. The rolling stock and electrical systems will be provided by Hyundai, which owns the Rotem train factory, which produces KTX, a TGV-derived bullet-train. Other Korean companies will provide computer, communication and signaling system.
If the Korean consortium takes over the contract format outlined so far, it will be a rare case of a great work in Brazil to be played without the participation of the best known names in the market for heavy construction. Appointed by the Korean government to lead the project, Daniel Suh says that the talks with major contractors did not prosper. The more traditional groups, he says, are interested in the work, but not as prone to being members of the concession – despite the scale of the project, the project still faces debate in the private sector for its profitability.
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