Brazil's Odebrecht sees higher 2009 revenues

By Elzio Barreto and Guillermo Parra-Bernal

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's largest construction group, Odebrecht, expects revenue to rise 5 percent in 2009 as major economies raise public spending on infrastructure, Chief Executive Officer Marcelo Bahia Odebrecht said in an interview on Wednesday.

Revenue should rise to nearly $19 billion from $18 billion in 2008 as governments around the world pour funds into new roads, transportation systems and other infrastructure to create jobs and revive growth, he said.

Odebrecht ODBESO.UL gets nearly 70 percent of its construction revenue from projects abroad, and the rest from business in Brazil. The company is rebuilding levees in New Orleans that were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and has projects in Portugal, Angola, Venezuela and other countries.

"In general, you end up having a lot of funds directed at infrastructure projects," Marcelo Bahia Odebrecht, 40, said at the Reuters Latin American Investment Summit in Sao Paulo. "In the United States, for example, we have never had such a large backlog."

The company has total construction backlog of $18 billion, up from $13 billion in 2007. In the United States, it is also working on the construction of Miami airport's north terminal and the city's Metro.

The company plans to spend $9 billion in the 2009-2011 period, 50 percent more than in the previous three-year period, to increase output at its petrochemical, oil and natural gas and renewable energy businesses.

One of its largest investments involves three drilling rigs that will be leased to state-run energy giant Petrobras (PETR4.SA)(PBR.N). The first rig will be ready late in 2009 or in early 2010. Despite some difficulty in obtaining financing for the two other rigs, deliveries are on schedule for 2011 and 2012, the CEO said.

The company expects to raise $1.3 billion in financing for the two rigs by August, with the funds coming mainly from export credit agencies, or ECAs, in South Korea and Norway, among others.