Costa Rica exports buses for the first time

A Korean-owned company Daewoo expects to sell 100 buses in the next two years.

Korean company Daewoo Bus Costa Rica Co. this week is sending the first six buses built in the country to El Salvador. That nation bought a total of 12 buses at a cost of $2 million. The other six will be shipped in January.

Last year, Costa Rica exported $280 million worth of auto parts, but this is the first time the country exports entire vehicles.

The Daewoo plant in Santa Ana, southwest of the capital, has a production capacity of some 300 units per year. Daewoo also is the leading brand of buses in the country, with nearly 36 percent of the local market.

This company is an example of how foreign direct investment contributes to the dynamism in the economy, the development of local suppliers and the transfer of technology and knowledge.

Posted by Costa Developers

Davivienda Financial Group takes control of HSBC

Bank plans to expand operations in El Salvador, Honduras and Panama.

Colombian bank Davivienda took over this week HSBC Bank operations in Costa Rica, after formalizing the acquisition of its shares last Friday.

Davivienda’s total investment was $300 million for all companies and businesses belonging to Grupo Financiero HSBC in the country, including a stock brokerage firm and an insurance agency.

Efraín Forero, president of the group, believes that Costa Rica is “promised land” for foreign companies in Central America and Colombia. He also confirmed the bank plans to approve personal loans or mortgages “within minutes.”

Davivienda is developing a strategy called “multilatina,” with $25 billion in assets, placing it 26th in the ranking of Latin American banks.

After the Costa Rica venture, the company plans to open businesses in El Salvador, Honduras and Panama.

HSBC’s 800 employees will remain at their jobs.

Posted by Costa Developers

7th annual theater festival upon us

costadevelopers.com

Performances and workshops taking place across the city.

The Little Theatre Group will put on "Looking for the Pony" during the Festival of National Theater this month.

The first 28 days of October mark the nation’s seventh annual Festival of National Theater, or the Encuentro Nacional de Teatro.  This year’s festival also overlaps with the Central American Showcase.

Founded in 2005 by a group of people from different theater institutions, the Encuentro Nacional de Teatro seeks to promote theater in Costa Rica through screening performances from different national theater groups and providing theater workshops at both the professional and amateur level.

This year’s event will feature national performances, workshops and discussions in the city’s main theaters, Melico Salazar, Teatro La Aduana and Teatro 1887 del CENAC. As part of the Central American Showcase, there will also be shows from Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panamá.

Posted by Costa Developers