A second bundle of possible benefits are related to business expertise, like how to finance activities in this country, the knowledge of institutional environment (laws/lawyers) and other benefits linked to the intangible assets of employees that came with the acquired company.

The international investor is also receiving knowledge of the local supply chain and suppliers' base (original suppliers of the acquired company). Another possibility is to take original management style and practices to this new company and possible value capture with this turnaround in management and cost reduction.

Using the original country as major new supplier of the acquired company and expanding the product portfolio from one source of protein to others and then milk and food products, they will become exporter of several other products that are components (pizza, pasta, tomatoes etc.) which originally were not exported to that market. This involves also packages in the case of ready to eat foods, design and other supporting functions, that would be done in the original country and sold internationally.

Another possible benefit for society would be to bring earnings and profits conquered from international sales to local shareholders, like the traditional flows of multinational companies repatriating money. Finally, when a company operates in several countries, it can be matching different supply sources and international channels using specific products and brands coming from supplier countries to fit consumers needs. In essence, capturing value with global trade.

Although there are several possible benefits, some risks are present within these international investments sponsored by local banks and societies.

One debate is related to which companies will receive the support, or will be preferred by Governments official development banks. A very clear criteria should be settled since these investments require public money. Another risk comes with the complexity of managing processes of different companies, different countries, different cultures and different environments. Sometimes the local company is not prepared for this rapid growth.

Which business to buy should be considered, from mature industries with low margins or promising new ventures be purchased?

Where to buy is also a risk. In mature markets with compressed margins and powerful retailers or in emerging countries, that face in some times growth of 15% per year in some food markets?

The moment (when) of the purchasing operation is also very delicate, since an overpriced asset acquisition makes it difficult to recover. Exchange rates fluctuation is also a possible risk, since debts are in USD and devaluation of the local currency used for this purchase may happen and transform it in an expensive acquisition. Finally, there are the learning costs of facing unions, syndicates, suppliers' associations, Governmental regulation and other barriers for a new player coming from outside.

It is still a little bit premature to evaluate these investments and the conclusions cannot be generalized to all business, but this article bought some contributions for the debate of the benefits and risks involved.

The author is professor of strategic planning and food chains at the School of Economics and Business, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil (www.favaneves.org) and international speaker.