Chile's Copper Giant Weighs Strategic Asset Sales as Dollar Surges Past 900

The Chilean peso lost ground for a third consecutive session, the dollar closed above $900, and Codelco acknowledged it is weighing the sale of strategic assets: in a single day, Chile distilled the tensions that define its economic moment, caught between an unresolved regulatory agenda, an expanding infrastructure pipeline, and a capital market searching for directional cues.

The exchange rate accumulated a $7.4 rise over the week, driven largely by the impact on rate expectations from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting. The move accelerated this Friday after the cancellation of the first round of nuclear talks between the United States and Iran, an episode that once again underscored how quickly a geopolitical variable can reshape global markets. With three sessions on the upside, the greenback consolidated its recovery from recent lows and reopened questions about the Central Bank's room for maneuver in an environment of a firm dollar.

In equities, the session's standout was Enel Américas, whose shares jumped close to 10% after the announcement of a buyback program covering up to 5% of its own stock. According to Jorge Tolosa, a trader at Vector Capital, that figure is equivalent to acquiring 36.5% of the company's free float, which explains the sharpness of the reaction. The move nearly erased the stock's year-to-date losses. The session also saw exceptional volume in Falabella, where an $84 billion purchase package executed by a Scotia client —with counterparties intermediated by Banchile, BTG Pactual and LarrainVial— dominated the day's traded amounts.

In the mining sector, the day was marked by a significant executive reshuffle. Carlos Espinoza, until now general manager of Anglo American's Los Bronces, was appointed new general manager of Compañía Minera del Pacífico, a Grupo CAP subsidiary, effective August 1. His departure from Anglo American triggered a chain of appointments: Felipe Rau will take over Los Bronces on July 15, and Leopoldo Garrido will assume command of El Soldado in September, both with prior experience at Escondida. In parallel, Grupo CAP itself advanced its logistics diversification strategy, holding meetings with potential Argentine clients to channel cargo to Asia via its Las Losas and Huachipato terminals, taking advantage of the window opened by logistical strains at northern ports. Roadblocks in Bolivia pushed the Port of Arica to occupancy near 120%, forcing the suspension of cargo deconsolidation, while Iquique activated a contingency plan with Customs to enable 10,000 square meters of temporary storage.

The big infrastructure news was the signing of a US$50 million loan extended by CAF to Empresa Portuaria San Antonio to begin enabling works for the Puerto Exterior, a US$4.45 billion megaproject that in its entirety will combine US$1.95 billion in state contributions with US$2.5 billion from the private sector. The opening of economic bids is scheduled for August, with award before year-end. It is the most concrete financing signal the project has received to date.

On the corporate front, Apollo Global Management will take control of Vidrios Lirquén —Chile's sole manufacturer of flat glass for construction— after acquiring a decisive stake in Japan's Nippon Sheet Glass. The Fiscalía Nacional Económica approved the operation after concluding it does not generate competitive overlap, given that Apollo does not operate in the glass industry. The New York-based fund thereby expands a Chilean portfolio that already spans from energy to fintech. In dairy, Peru's Grupo Gloria is advancing the corporate reorganization of Soprole and consolidating its entry into Argentina, positioning itself as the dominant player in the Southern Cone sector.

The structural agenda remained unresolved. Silvia Fernández, BlackRock's top executive for Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, warned in remarks to Diario Financiero that the pension reform's timelines are "tremendously complex" and that rethinking them would be prudent, without ruling out that the calendar may require a legal amendment. On the labor front, Labor Minister Tomás Rau confirmed that the government is studying an all-purpose severance scheme funded with contributions to individual accounts, though he acknowledged that "it is not the best moment" to implement it. SOFOFA, for its part, presented its own proposal along the same lines, while a study by the industrial federation estimated that a four-point cut in the corporate tax —from 27% to 23%— could generate more than 80,000 additional direct jobs over four years.

Next week will test several of these fronts simultaneously: the opening of bids for the Puerto Exterior, the trajectory of the exchange rate in a context of a strong dollar, and the nuclear negotiations that Washington and Tehran will either resume or not. Meanwhile, Codelco still owes the market the definition of its strategic plan and the eventual sale of stakes in El Abra or Quebrada Blanca, a decision that, if executed, would mark a milestone in the state copper company's history and redraw the map of Chilean large-scale mining.