INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Investment Guide of
Medellín in the Electric
Energy Sector

Download Guide Here
(PDF format)

Medellín: Business City

We wish to invite you to get to know our City - a vibrant place filled with opportunities that works day after day to turn into a business and investments center. We’re interested not only in showing our past, but also the challenges we are facing and have reached so far as well as the opportunities – particularly those related to business and investments – that the City offers today.

And the reasons are clear...

Medellín is the second most important economic center of Colombia. The Aburrá Valley contributes 15% of the nation’s gross domestic product, turning it into one of the country’s most production regions. Its gross domestic product per capita (with PPA) is US$3,794 higher than the other cities of the country. In addition, the corporate density is 25 companies per 1,000 persons, reaching second place in Colombia.

Medellín is a transparent city. The city has experienced serious transformations and its security, governance and trust in the local State is high.

• AAA Rating by Duff and Phelps (business rater).
• The country’s most efficient city in fiscal terms, according to the National Planning Department.
• The most advanced city in accounting cleanup, according to the Colombian Comptroller General.

Medellín is a safe city. Today’s violence figures are lower than those displayed by other Latin American capitals and many relevant cities worldwide. In 2005, no kidnapping was registered and homicides dropped 30%, from 57 per 100,000 persons in 2004 to 34.5 in 2005.

Medellín is educated. Top quality education is our tool for social transformation and the path taken to build a fair and participative city for the XXI century. Forty per cent of the city’s budget is invested in education and the results are already seen: the city has the highest percentage of primary public education of the country and a pioneer in research. Furthermore, according to the WEF 2003 (World Economic Forum), Medellín was rated as a City with “competent managers at competitive prices”.

Medellín has competitive public utilities. We have Empresas Públicas de Medellín, a leader in Latin America and the only public utilities company that supplies the following integrated services: electric power, water and sewer, gas and telecommunications, with coverage close to 100%. In 2003 and 2004, EEPPM was awarded by the Regional Energetic Integration Commission – CIER- a special recognition for providing “the highest index in the area of quality as far as power supply”.

Medellín has an efficient integrated transportation system. Couples the traditional transportation with the Metro de Medellín, the cable system Metrocable (in operation since 2004 and a second line that will begin construction in October 2006) and feeding routes (Metroplus) meeting the demand of internal mobility.

Medellín has the largest cluster. With a competitive platform targeted to international markets based on four economic sectors (textile – garment toll manufacturing, energy, construction, business tourism) and a vast recognition in the health sector mainly transplants and aesthetic and reconstructive surgery. Besides, the strategies of the city’s administration promote business associations and the creation of new companies in these clusters.

Medellín has strategic alliances with important economies. Said alliances provide privileged access to many Colombian goods and services and more specifically those of Medellín and the region of Antioquia. In fact, through different integration agreements, Colombia has access to a wider market of over 1 billion consumers abroad (CAN; the recent Free-Trade Agreement with U.S.A. which undergoing the revision and approval of both country’s Congress, the effectiveness of the European SGP and the agenda of future negotiations including Central America (Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala), European Union and Canada, among others, which began this past June 5.

Medellín has clearly defined investment opportunities. The city has specific investment opportunities in the clusters defined as priorities for Medellín: garment toll manufacturing, construction, and energy. In addition, the sector of business tourism acts as the backbone to strengthen the city’s platform as a business and investments center.

Medellín has an investor’s service and support Bureau. We work to provide investors detailed information and support to invest in the city. The challenge is to attract and retain local and foreign investments in the region through the International Business Office of the International Cooperation Agency of Medellín. (For more information, please contact Ms. Paula Andrea Trujillo, International Business Chief, at +574-381-1000 or at ptrujillo@acimedellin.org).

Investment Opportunities in the Electric Energy Sector

Of the GDP related to the electricity and gas generated in Colombia, 21% corresponds to Antioquia, of which 77% in turn is generated in Medellín and the Aburrá Valley.

The expansion of the electric interconnection networks with the Andean market has generated important factors: the region’s exports of energy to Ecuador grew more than 200% per year in the past 5 years, reaching US$157 million in 2005. One hundred per cent of said exports were generated in the city through ISA’s international interconnection networks with Ecuador.

Another factor is that displayed in the machinery and electric equipment industry, which exhibited a 12% increase. The region represents more than 10% of the production of equipment and electric machinery.

Priorities of investment detected include:

• Regional development of manufacturers of electric items, equipment and devices.
• Technological and engineering services.
• New technologies in equipment and infrastructure.