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OPINION SHAPER: DAVID ZYLBERSZTAJN (int'l edition)Latin America has no shortage of corporate dinosaurs. David Zylbersztajn's job is to turn one of them into something sleeker and faster. The head of Brazil's National Petroleum Agency, Zylbersztajn is supervising the makeover of state-owned Petrobras from a protected monopoly into an efficient oil producer that can compete against global oil giants. Last year, when he was Sao Paulo's state energy secretary, Zylbersztajn slimmed down and sold off three electric utilities for $7.5 billion. Now, the son-in-law of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso is on the front line of Brazil's battle to keep its economy afloat. On Oct. 6, his agency doubled, to 10%, the production royalties that Petrobras must pay as part of an effort to bolster the country's finances. Zylbersztajn is also eager for foreign investment. So he's pushing Petrobras toward 36 exploration partnerships with foreign companies. His ideas pit Zylbersztajn against Petrobras employees and politicians who want to protect the status quo. But his Sao Paulo state job prepared him. When he took over, one utility was found to have 200 people on the payroll of its press department. Zylbersztajn cut costs at the state's energy utilities by over 30% in a year. An academic before joining the government, Zylbersztajn, 43, has shifted priorities. He once spent weeks in the jungle studying the impact that hydroelectric dams have on indigenous peoples. His criticisms twice shelved major projects. Now, Zylbersztajn is opening the gates for investment to pour into Brazil's energy industry.
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Updated Oct. 15, 1998 by bwwebmaster
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