SUCCESS STORIES
TURISMO & OCIO
Katara Cultural Village
Projection, creation and implementation of Katara - Cultural Village Foundation from 2010 to 2012. The aim was to create a diverse artistic and cultural program that included a philharmonic orchestra, exhibitions, art, music and film festivals, artisanal products and high-end gastronomy within a 10 km2 andscape putting on display the predominantly arabesque landscape design.
With an annual budget of $100 million dollars, the administrative, financial, commercial and artistic – cultural divisions were restructured. Local and international experts were hired to form a multicultural team of nearly 100 people with 1500 subcontractors.
B2IC senior leadership was directly involved in the establishment of Katara and led this operation in all its phases; from initial planning to reaching 25,000 daily visits, the initial objective put in place by the country’s authorities.
Acuerdo IICA-Agbar
B2 International Consulting trabajó para crear y fortalecer los vínculos entre la compañía española AGBAR y el Instituto Iberoamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura “IICA”. El compromiso de cooperación entre las entidades ha dado origen a la firma de un acuerdo marco de colaboración que tiene la finalidad de desarrollar iniciativas y proyectos conjuntos vinculados a la gestión inteligente y sostenible de los recursos hídricos en el sector agrícola de América Latina y el Caribe.
El acuerdo integra las áreas de Gestión de recursos naturales, Cambio climático y bioeconomía, Desarrollo rural, productividad y competitividad y Tecnología de la información e innovación social.
Como parte de la alianza, ambas entidades intercambiarán experiencias y conocimientos, brindarán asesoría directa, intermediación técnico-científica, entre otras, en la elaboración y ejecución de proyectos relacionados con el objetivo principal de la sinergia. B2IC participará de este proceso brindando apoyo en la formulación de proyectos conjuntos.
B2IC es asesor estratégico a nivel internacional del IICA para el apoyo a su liderazgo y la identificación de posibles actores estratégicos relacionados con los objetivos del Instituto. El alcance de dicha asesoría incluye la prospección de donantes y el establecimiento de colaboraciones y alianzas con grupos internacionales líderes en su campo, de conformidad con los planes de desarrollo del IICA.
Merging of companies in the leisure and gaming sector
With the goal to resize various companies to be stronger versus the competition, the merger of several leisure and gaming companies was carried out to create the largest company in Andalusia. To achieve this, processes were adapted and the philosophy of the parent company was adopted to improve efficiency in the face of adversaries. After 6 months of strategic consulting, five companies became one with over 150 employees. In addition to the coordination of the entire merger, the advisory team monitored the operations of the company for one year. The overall value of the merger was estimated at 16 million EUR.
CULTURE
Mondialogo – Daimler & UNESCO
One of the most successful projects carried out by UNESCO through strategic alliances within the private sector was Mondialogo. The Mondialogo school competition was created in 2003 by UNESCO in collaboration with Daimler (Mercedes Benz) with the main objective of promoting intercultural dialogue and exchanges amongst youth. Through a competition that joined teams from around the world, students were asked to develop solutions to issues related to an inclusive education, access to education, human rights, emphasizing cultural diversity and the power of projects such as Mondialogo. Amongst the proposals submitted throughout six months, 25 winning projects were selected. The team leaders were invited to a symposium where they could meet over a few days. Over 25,000 students from 126 countries participated in the 2004 edition that took place in Barcelona, Spain. The last edition in 2008, took place in Beijing, China where more than 100,000 students from 144 countries participated in Mondialogo. Marcio Barbosa, President of B2IC, was directly involved in the leadership of Mondialogo as Deputy Director General of UNESCO, managing all institutional and public relations.
EDUCATION
Education above all
The Education Above all Foundation, was founded in 2012 in Qatar with the aim to provide primary education for children in developing, conflict, post-conflict and endangered countries. Within the framework of the foundation, the project “Educate a Child” was also created. Until 2012, Qatar invested $100 million USD each year to educate children through projects in 25 countries, but this investment was insufficient to meet the target of 10 million children the government had committed to. Under the premise of motivating other countries to contribute to solving this worldwide education problem, strategic alliances were established with private entities, agencies and financing agencies. Similar school programs were identified and after negotiations, the projects were signed, committing themselves to their continuation for at least 5 years. This funding process included strategic alliances with entities such as Qatar Airways, Vodafone, ExxonMobil, Credit Suisse, Save the Children, BMZ (Germany’s development agency), ADF (France’s development agency), Educate Girls, Building Tomorrow, British Council, CARE, Roger Federer Foundation, in addition to the collaboration with entities within the United Nations system (UNESCO, Unicef, ACNUR, UNRWA, PNUD). Over 7 million children in 47 countries were enrolled in school in 2015. The goal of 10 million children was reached in 2019. Marcio Barbosa, President of B2IC, was the Director General of Education Above All from 2012 to the end of 2016.
TECHNOLOGY
Space Imaging Brasil
Space Imaging Brasil (SIB) is the perfect example of a successful professional collaboration between a partner and the B2IC senior consulting team in the area of commercial representation in Brazil.
B2IC’s strategic partners have been the commercial representatives of American Digital Globe for over 15 years, becoming the market leaders in the commercialization of high-resolution satellite images in Brazil.
During this time, companies such as Brookfield, Chesf, Embrapa, Energía Sostenible de Brasil, Furnas, IBGE, Petrobras, Vale amongst others have become clients of this initiative.
Helibras
Helibras was born from the need of Airbus Helicopters to open and boost international trade.
In this project, B2IC’s strategic partners structured the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between the helicopter division of Aérospatiale (today Airbus Helicopters), aerial photography Cruzeiro do Sol and the government of the State of Minas Gerais - Brazil.
The project was carried out in 1978 and the partnership between Airbus Helicopters and the government of Minas Gerais continues its activity to this day. In addition to the sale of helicopters, Helibras has also offered maintenance and customization services for rotary-wing aircrafts, becoming a key player in Brazilian aviation.
Brazil-China space cooperation
In the 1980’s, Brazil and China tried to develop space activities but suffered technological embargoes imposed by several countries. With both countries not having access to the necessary technologies to produce satellites, they decided to cooperate at a scientific and technological level to jointly develop Earth observation satellites.
The differences in development level between the two countries along with cultural, linguistic and distance between them made it a complex mission and created difficulties in the development of this project. Nevertheless, the focus on the building of the partnership (included the choice of organizations and corporations that provided services, equipment, detailed planning, preparation of the work plan and legal instruments) allowed for the successful launch of the first satellite in the Cbers series (China Brazil Earth Resources Satellite) , approximately 10 years since initial discussions.
In 2019, both governments celebrated 30 years of successful collaboration. During this time, 5 satellites have been put in orbit and monitoring services relevant to many countries have been provided.
Today, the Cbers project is considered an emblematic representation of international diplomacy and cooperation between two developing nations in the field of advanced technology.
Members of B2IC’s senior management and consulting team effectively participated in the leadership of this project.
Digital transformation of a multinational in the chemical-medical sector
The digital transformation of a multinational in the chemical-medical sector aimed to better the quality and quantity of internal company processes to add value to their activities by saving time. For this, the administrative departments (all levels) were transformed and adapted to new technologies so customer expectations were met 24 hours a day.
The involvement of all staff in the organizational change was fundamental to the success of the transformation. It took almost 3 years of strategic consulting for the implantation of new circuits that allowed a reduction in general operational costs, improvements in customer service and to make information instantly available 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week to the end user (the multinational has over 1,100 employers in all of Spain).
INFRASTRUCTURES
Strategic consulting in Qatar
B2IC helped one of the biggest infrastructure companies of Latin America to identify business opportunities in Qatar by analyzing the market. This strategic advisory work favored the positioning of the company in the country and allowed it to partake in large scale bids for projects of over 1M USD in worth.
The Rio-Niterói Bridge Project
Ecorodovias was awarded the Rio-Niterói Project through a tender process carried out by the Agência Nacional de Transportes Terrestres (ANTT).
The Ecorodovias financial plan, that consisted of a total investment of 1.2 million BRL, considered only infrastructure obligations as a source of financing. Given the high quality of the sponsor’s credit risk, it was possible to consider a more competitive cost of financing and more flexible agreements than those indicated by the BNDES for highways.
B2IC’s parters were financial advisors to Ecorodovias for the concession of the largest bridge in Latin America.
Transolímpica Project
TransOlímpica is a rapid transit bus (BRT) line in Rio de Janeiro that connects Barra da Tijuca and Deodoro, specifically connecting Salvador Allende Avenue with Brasil Avenue.
The total investment value of the project was BRL 1.6 billion, and consisted of the construction of an exclusive BRT lane with 18 stations that connected the regions with a high rate of population growth.
This route was part of the construction infrastructure required to host the 2016 Olympic Games. Transolímpica was the first of a series of tenders for urban mobility projects and was at the forefront of discussions with current sources of subsidized mobility financing.
The project established the financing structure with limited resources for shareholders, anticipating the structure announced by BNDES for federal highways.
B2IC's senior consultants provided financial advice to the winning consortium of Invepar, Odebrecht and CCR, taking part in the pre-auction process and in structuring the project's short and long-term financing.
Planified area of Rio de Janeiro 5 (Rio AP-5)
A member of B2IC's senior consulting team served as financial advisor to the group awarded with the concession responsible for maintaining sewerage services on the AP-5 zone in Rio de Janeiro. With a total investment of BRL 2.2 billion, the concession contracts included the expansion, conservation and maintenance of the sewage system in that area.
The commercial management of the water and sewage system was the responsibility of Foz (winner of the auction), with Odebrecht as the project builder.
MGO Highways
The Planalto Consortium, which includes 9 small and medium construction companies, won the bidding process for the MGO highways. The project was the first highway of the first stage of the PIL, with 436 km between the states of Minas Gerais and Goiás.
With 5 sources of financing shared by the project guarantees, the financing structure proposed by B2IC’s senior consultants, unprecedented in Brazil, allowed the project to reach a debt level of approximately 80%. The total investment of the project was BRL 1.8 billion.
To ensure the success of the financial project in a Project Finance structure, independent engineers carried out the due diligence of the facilities, of the Opex and Capex and an independent study of the demand was carried out for the benefit of the creditors.
FINANCE
Arteris
B2IC partners worked as financial advisors to Arteris in the group’s highway portfolio, which included projects such as Autopista Litoral Sul, Fernão Dias, Régis Bittencourt and Fluminense. All projects had existing long-term financial commitments, which required complex negotiations for financial structures and the exchange of guarantees amongst creditors. The project covered an entire strategic transportation axis in the state of Sao Paulo, that crossed the region’s richest and most diverse areas, with a population of 1.6 million people.
They led the Régis Bittencourt highway project as financial advisors and credit providers in a 1.2 billion USD infrastructure transaction.
Strategic consulting in the state of Pará
B2IC provided strategic consulting to attract international investments to the state of Pará in relevant commercial sectors of importance to Pará including mining, infrastructure, energy and tourism. We were put in charge of preparing an Investment Report with select opportunities of over 400M USD, which was presented to financial and investment funds in the Middle East.
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