FB News

Family Business Roundup: Odebrecht and Penske Media

Odebrecht secures €979 million waterway contract

Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, owned by the eponymous family, will take the lead on a 2.5 trillion peso (€979 million) joint venture to build shipping channels on Columbia's Magdalena River. 

The deal will allow for 6 million tons of cargo transport each year. 

According to the statement, the project, called Navelena, will be completed in just under 14 years and cover 564 miles. The river flows into Barranquilla, the country's main shipping port. 

Grupo Odebrecht is today Latin America's largest engineering group, with revenues of R$96.9 billion (€32.2 billion) and operations in 23 countries across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, as well as the Americas.

Norberto Odebrecht, who turned the family's small engineering firm into a construction empire it is today, died at the age of 93 in May this year.

Penske Media purchases Fairchild from Conde Nast

Penske Media Corp, the publishing company founded by automotive second-gen Jay Penske, has purchased Fairchild Fashion Media from Conde Nast in a $100m deal (€75 million). 

The acquisition includes Women's Wear Daily and Footwear News, alongside Fairchild's events business. 

The price is significantly lower than the $650 million Conde Nast, part of publishing empire Advance Publications, which is owned by the Newhouse family, paid when it bought Fairchild Fashion Media from Walt Disney in 1999.  

Penske, the son of motorsport icon Roger Penske, founded Penske Media Corporation in 2003, which according to their website reaches more than 168 million consumers each month. They also own Hollywood trade publications Variety and Deadline. 

The young media company was recently named one of the top 100 private companies in the United States.

Jay's father Roger Penske owns automotive racing team Team Penske, the Penske Corporation, and has an estimated net worth is $1.1 billion. 

Top Stories