Petrobras, the Brazilian state-controlled oil and gas multinational ranked fourth in the list of the largest open capital enterprises in the American continent, according to a survey conducted by consultancy firm Economática. Petrobras' market value rose 81% in comparison with the last survey, held in December last year.
According to figures supplied by Economática, Petrobras' market value has gone from US$ 95.84 billion, as of December 31st, 2008, to US$ 173.59 billion, as of August 4.
The company was surpassed only by the American companies ExxonMobil (US$ 344.5 billion), Microsoft (US$ 211.8 billion) and Wal Mart (US$ 196.2 billion). Last year, Petrobras ranked 17th in the list, which does not include Canadian companies. In terms of market value, however, Petrobras was already the largest open capital company in Latin America.
Out of the 25 largest companies in the American continent, only Petrobras and Vale are from Latin America, all of the others being based in North America. Vale, which ranked 33rd late last year, with a market value of US$ 58.46 billion, climbed to the 22nd position, with a market value of US$ 102.92 billion.
With regard to market value, the Brazilian company surpassed the North American chemical giants Johnson & Johnson (US$ 168.25 billion) and Procter & Gamble (US$ 161.64 billion), which ranked respectively 5th and 6th in the list, as well as multinationals General Electric, Google, Cola-Cola and Pfizer.
Economática surveyed all of the open capital companies in the United States, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Argentina and Brazil.
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