Largest companies in Latin America 2020, by sales revenue

The Brazilian oil company Petrobras is one of the leading multinational corporations headquartered in Latin America, with more than 53 billion U.S. dollars of sales revenue in 2020. Pemex, based in Mexico, ranked fourth, with an annual revenue amounting to 44.7 billion U.S. dollars that same year.

Multilatinas: Latin American corporations going global

The term 'multilatinas' refers to companies with headquarters in Latin America that have managed to internationalize their operations, extending their main businesses or key segments beyond national borders. Usually, such corporations enjoy strong positions in their home markets, which enables them to venture into other Latin American territories. Multilatinas that have gone global are also sometimes referred to as 'global latinas'.

Where multilatinas thrive

As shown in this statistic, the most revenue-generating multilatinas tend to be engaged with key economic sectors such as energy, commodities, retail and mass consumption goods. Many of them have close connections with national governments or are, in fact, partially or totally owned by the government, as it is the case with the oil companies Petrobras and PDVSA. Consumer goods is another segment where Latin American companies have proved successful at internationalization, for instance, the Brazilian meat manufacturer JBS and the Mexican beverage and retail company Femsa.