| CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS
Quiñenco’s corporate
headquarters are located in the El
Golf sector of Santiago at Enrique Foster Sur #20, Las Condes.
Its offices occupy approximately 2,500 square meters.
INVESTMENT POLICY
Most of Quiñenco’s resources are dedicated to
companies under its control, either directly or in conjunction
with strategic partners. Resources may also be used to invest
in industries or companies that it believes will strengthen
the Group’s growth potential.
Quiñenco seeks out investment opportunities in companies
with a strong brand orientation and in industries where it
has proven experience. In the past, the Company has formed
strategic alliances in order to obtain financing and know-how.
FINANCING POLICY
Quiñenco finances its activities and investments with
dividends and profit distributions from its operating companies
and with funds obtained from the sale of assets and the issuance
of debt and equity instruments.
The Company prioritizes long-term financing so as to maintain
a liability structure that reflects the liquidity of its assets
and whose maturity profiles are compatible with its cash flow
generation capacity
RISK FACTORS
The primary risks affecting Quiñenco and its subsidiaries
are those risks inherent to the markets and economies in which
each business operates, in Chile and abroad. These risks are
reflected in the prices, costs and sales volumes of the products
and services of every business the Company is involved in.
Quiñenco is predominantly engaged in business in Chile.
Consequently, its results of operations and financial condition
are to a large extent dependent on the overall level of economic
activity in Chile. The Chilean economy had GDP growth rates
of (0.8%), 4.2%, 3.1%, 2.1% and 3.2% for the years 1999, 2000,
2001, 2002 and 2003, respectively. There can be no assurance
regarding future rates of growth relating to the Chilean economy.
Some of the factors that would be likely to have an adverse
effect on the Company’s business and results of operations
include future downturns in the Chilean economy, a return
to the high inflation experienced by Chile in the 1970s and
a devaluation of the Chilean peso relative to the U.S. dollar.
In addition to its operations in Chile, some of Quiñenco’s
businesses operate in and export to companies that operate
in and export to Argentina, Brazil, Peru and other countries
in Latin America that have at various times in the past been
characterized by volatile and frequently unfavorable economic,
political and social conditions. The Company’s business,
earnings and asset values may be materially and adversely
affected by developments with respect to inflation, interest
rates, currency fluctuations, government policies, price and
wage controls, exchange control regulations, taxation, expropriation,
social instability and other political, economic or diplomatic
developments in or affecting the specific countries in which
the Company operates and Latin America in general.
Historically, Quiñenco and its group
companies have required significant amounts of capital to
finance their operations and expand their businesses. As such,
future growth is directly related to the Company’s access
to capital. In the past, Quiñenco and its group companies
have met their capital needs with internally generated cash
flow and with the issuance of debt and equity. Nonetheless,
there is no assurance that funds will be readily available
to finance the future capital needs and expansion plans of
the Company. The inability to raise capital could severely
impede Quiñenco from growing in the future, either
in its existing businesses or in new businesses, thereby producing
an adverse effect on the Company’s financial position
and its results from operations.
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