...in 2005 sending more than 60,000 items abroad valued at more than $650 million. More than 75 percent of the company’s gross revenue was generated abroad.

“Odebrecht is an extreme decentralized company,” explained Roberto Dias. “That strategy ensured “economic" instability was never a problem for the development of our projects.”

"In the past, construction was the core business Today, it is a core business." — Celso Ferreira de Oliveira, Infrastructure

Odebrecht allied its strategy of looking for projects beyond its borders with diversification into field ancillary to its contracting work, particularly energy and exports.

Internationalization is now a growing component to Camargo Corrêa’s strategy. The company’s international efforts have been pioneered through offices in Mozambique, South Africa and Angola. This approach paid off in the form of several highway infrastructure contracts last year.

“Back in the 1980s when construction was our only business it put limits on what we were able to do,” said Carlos Fernando Namur, the company’s financial director. “Now we can be more bold because we have a natural hedge.”

Overcoming Setbacks

That kind of assurance has been important as the company has weathered two dramatic setbacks in the past year.

A cave-in on the São Paulo Metropolitan Subway Line 4 project last month killed seven people and brought work on the station where it occurred to a halt. Camargo leads the consortium building the $1.4-billion project. Authorities have launched a detailed study of the incident.

And, last summer, diversion tunnels on the $554.4-million Campos Novos Hydroelectric project in Southern Brazil failed, draining 1.2 billion cubic meters of water in the reservoir. The tunnel has been repaired and the reservoir is in the process of being refilled. Camargo Corrêa is in negotiations with the insurance company and the owner to assess the final cost of the incident which could reach more than $55 million.

Sebastiao Camargo founded the company in 1939 as a small business to do general earthwork and paving in and around São Paulo. (Corrêa was the name of his partner, an attorney, who sold his stake several years later.)

It was a successful enterprise but the big break came following World War II when it became possible to import heavy equipment and machinery. Camargo made his company a corporation to draw greater capital and started targeting larger jobs.

The next big break came in the early 1950s, when Brazil decided to enter the power business. Camargo decided to capitalize on the hydroelectric construction he saw as inevitable. It was a risky proposition since the ability of the government to finance major hydroelectric projects was far from clear.

“Few companies wanted to risk getting involved with dams,” he told ENR in 1969. “It just wasn’t attractive.”

It paid off. Within a decade the company was designing powerplants as well as building them and the company took its place as one of the largest engineering construction firms in South America. Camargo kept a firm grip on the company, keeping its focus on infrastructure, until his death in 1994.

The new direction of the company was cemented two years later when Camargo Corrêa made itself a holding company. In the wake of that, Camargo Corrêa has been aggressive in acquiring and divesting itself of various businesses in order to maintain the stability of the company but making those moves as opportunities presented themselves.

That changed in 2001 with the creation of an corporate plan called Camargo 2012 that laid out a specific strategy for the future. It set specific financial goals for every aspect of the corporation.

“Our portfolio was created through opportunities we identified and acted on,” Namur said. “What we are doing now is being more strategic about where we want to focus on staying and grow.”

In 2003, the company acquired a majority stake in Santista Textil – the world’s largest denim producer. As unusual as these interests are, Camargo Corrêa has also kept a keen interest in more traditional investments such as the $1 billion acquisition of Argentinean cement manufacturer Loma Negra in 2005.

The operating revenue, which stood at $2.5 billion in 2001 has reached approximately $4 billion and is on target for hitting $6.5 billion by 2012.

We see it as an evolution,” Namur said. “The world has changed and we have to change with it. We believe opportunities still exist [in engineering and construction] but if we depended strictly on infrastructure going on today, we certainly would be where we are today.”