Brazil's Vale is the biggest producer of iron ore, and Latam Airlines Group, a Chilean-controlled company that combines Chile's LAN and Brazil's TAM airlines, is the continent's dominant carrier, with a stock market value of $ 11.4 billion, second only to Delta Air Lines. These companies are far from alone. Latin America's economic renaissance over the past two decades has fostered the emergence of a new generation of corporate champions with regional, and sometimes global, ambitions. The phenomenon isn't entirely new. Mexico's Cemex embarked on an acquisition spree that made it one of the world's leading cement producers two decades ago, entering the Spanish market in 1992 and establishing a major presence in the U.S. in 2000. America Movil, the wireless operator that has helped make its controlling shareholder, Carlos Slim, the world's richest man, branched out from Mexico more than a decade ago to become the leading mobile telephone company across Latin America.
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