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News from Latin America
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December 27, 2000: 5:03 p.m. ET
Psinet plans to purchase Amarata; Vale, Maritime Portal create new site
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NEW YORK (BNamericas.com) - Consulting group IDC said online sales in Brazil jumped 60 percent; Vale announced a partnership with Panorama to create a logistics portal, and Internet service provider Psinet said it plans to buy Argentine online gift store Amarata.
IDC says online Christmas sales rise 60% in Brazil
Internet sales in Brazil reached $130 million this Christmas period, a 60-percent jump on last year's results, according to a study undertaken by consulting group IDC.
According to portals consulted by newspaper Valor (Brazil), online Christmas sales rose 200 percent on the same period last year.
The online division of department store chain Ponto Frio registered $3.6 million sales in the 2000 Christmas period, a 1,000 percent increase compared to 1999. Meanwhile, Brazil's leading online bookstore Saraiva saw its Christmas sales rise 500 percent.
According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Brazil accounts for 75 percent of Latin America's total online business and currently has 12.6 million Internet users.
Vale teams up with Maritime Portal to create new site
Vale, the Internet subsidiary of Brazilian mining and transport company CVRD, will create a logistics portal in January, and next week will announce a partnership with a portal specializing in maritime transport, Panorama (Brazil) reported.
Vale's charter is to invest in industrial sector companies, especially those in which CVRD has an interest. Vale chairman Ricardo Antunes said the strategy is to invest in projects that would strengthen the company's shares in the medium and long term, without having to worry about Nasdaq ups and downs.
Vale has a $50 million investment budget and is already a shareholder in Quadrem, a business portal for the mining and metallurgy sectors.
Psinet to purchase Amarata
Internet service provider Psinet announced to purchase Argentine online gift store Amarata for an undisclosed amount, La Nacion (Argentina) reported.
Under the agreement, Psinet will provide technological infrastructure and incubation services to Amarata, which in turn will advise Psinet clients on how to implement online sales strategies.
According to Psinet Argentina CEO Patricio Seoane, a survey among local Psinet clients found that most were hesitant to implement e-business solutions. Acquiring Amarata was a way to incorporate Internet-savvy entrepreneurs, who would be more convincing than just a sales team, Seoane explained.
Francisco Okecki and Juan Lanusse founded Amarata (formerly Pampashop) in 1999. In December that year the site raised $500,000 in its first round from investors including Patagon founder Wenceslao Casares, through his VC fund Penguin.
Amarata scheduled regional expansion into Brazil and Mexico for April 2000, but when the Nasdaq fell the company was forced to shelve plans and reduce staff.
To stay afloat, the site signed a deal with Argentine brick-and-mortar gift shop Champagne, through which Amarata became Champagne's online channel. This increased the site's customer base and allowed it to reach breakeven in November, Okecki said. During the November-December period corporate gift sales revenue alone should reach $100,000, he added.
Psinet provides IP-based Internet access, Internet security and Web hosting services, e-commerce solutions and voice, fax and video applications to clients in Brazil, Mexico, Central America and the Southern Cone. It reported a third-quarter net loss of $1.4 billion on revenues of $352.5 million.
In Argentina, Psinet has acquired the local ISPs Interserver, Argentina On Line, SSD Net, Netsystem and Powernet.
Source: BNamericas.com 
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