BEST releases results for 2007 and the 2008 calendar of events

São Paulo, 14 February 2008 – The BEST Brazil: Excellence in Securities Transactions announced its 2007 results and its calendar of 2008 events in a breakfast meeting hosted by the organizers of the initiative. Over the past year, 1,080 people have participated in BEST Brazil events, held in nine cities across North America, Europe, and Asia: New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, Frankfurt, Edinburgh, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Tokyo.


This year, BEST Brazil road shows will begin in April and the first event of 2008 will be held in the Middle East, in Dubai, inaugurating a new region. In the same month, BEST Brazil will also promote events in Europe, with two cities yet unvisited on the itinerary besides London: Geneva and Luxembourg. In June, in the North American road show, the BEST will visit Boston for the first time. The program will be closed in September with the Asian road show which will include an event in Seoul.


More than 130 participants attended the BEST breakfast meeting in São Paulo. During the event, Gilberto Mifano – CEO of BOVESPA/CBLC, gave the welcoming message and detailed the main aspects of the initiative. Edemir Pinto – CEO of BM&F highlighted the main results in past years and Sergio Mello - ANBID’s Manager for Securities Services Industry, presented the agenda for 2008.


From the government side, the event counted with the presence of the National Treasury Secretary, Arno Hugo Augustin Filho, and the Deputy Secretary, Paulo Valle; the Director of the Monetary Policy Board of the Central Bank of Brazil, Mario Torós; and the director of the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM), Sergio Weguelin.


Sergio Weguelin highlighted that the format of a joint initiative of public and private sectors has been the key for BEST´s event success. This format reinforces the soundness of the regulatory framework and the organization of the Brazilian Financial System. Last year, BEST introduced workshops focused on instruments, products and services available for the international investor. Mr. Weguelin emphasized that the workshops were designed to address different needs of investors who already have a general knowledge of the Brazilian capital market and is now interested in getting more detailed information on specific instruments and markets.


To the director of the Monetary Policy of the Central Bank of Brazil, Mario Torós, the project is a proactive initiative with demonstrated long-term consistency, coordination and focus on final customers. The National Treasury Secretary, Arno Augustin believes that a regular contact with the international investor’s community is very important to enhance mutual trust. “We had specific workshops for each sort of investor and one-on-one meetings with financial institutions interested in acquiring knowledge about our market”, said Mifano, BOVESPA and CBLC´s CEO.


“We have also created the “mini-Best”, which is a working lunch event, smaller than the BEST, where speakers deliver short presentations about the Brazilian market features. Last year the mini-Best took place in Edinburgh, Toronto and Tokyo. During the event it is possible to better understand the investor’s complaints and, back in Brazil, we have been working to improve those critical points facilitating foreign investor’s participation in the country”.


Edemir Pinto, BM&F`s CEO highlighted the increasing foreign investor interest in the Brazilian market. “In three years the volume of derivatives contracts traded by non-residents has tripled, from almost 5 million contracts in 2005 to more than 15 million at the end of 2007,” he said. “Our message is that our market is safe, reliable and transparent. At the events we can increase our contacts with the global players”.


Sergio Mello, pointed out that the BEST`s Committee also promoted the domestic seminar “Nonresident Investor Relationship” last year and announced the Seminar’s schedule for this year. The purpose of the seminar is to keep local brokerage houses, custodians and asset managers up-to-date about the mechanisms, rules and procedures for International Investors in Brazil.


The BEST Brazil: Excellence in Securities Transactions is a joint initiative of BOVESPA, CBLC, BM&F and ANBID, supported by the Brazilian Central Bank, CVM and the National Treasury, with the purpose of bringing the Brazilian capital markets closer to the international investment community. For further information and the complete calendar of events for 2008, go to www.bestbrazil.org.




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