Panama Business

Bennigan’s opens new restaurant in Panama. One of the world’s most beloved restaurant brands – Bennigan’s – opened its doors in the Obarrio district of Panama City on Monday, Oct. 24, bringing its friendly Irish hospitality, craveable chef-driven food and innovative drinks to this vibrant part of town.
The local franchisees chose the Obarrio district due to its central location between El Cangrejo and San Francisco in downtown Panama City.
Bennigan’s has enjoyed success in the Panamanian market for more than 16 years. The Obarrio restaurant replaces the local team’s previous location in the Marina, which was closed in May due to heavy construction in the area, which made it difficult for guests to get to the restaurant.
The Obarrio restaurant will be open for lunch, happy hour, dinner and late night. A special lunch menu will be served on weekdays from 12 – 3 p.m. The restaurant includes a full bar, 18 HD TVs and a comfortable outdoor seating area that is ideal for family dining, busine…

Fitch Affirms IDR of Banco Nacional de Panama. Fitch Ratings has affirmed the ratings for Banco Nacional de Panama's (Banconal) Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'BBB' following a peer review of Panama's largest banks. The Rating Outlook is Stable. At the same time, the bank's Viability rating (VR) was affirmed at 'bbb-'. A full list of ratings follows at the end of this press release.
The ratings reflect the potential support the bank would receive from its owner, the Republic of Panama. Banconal's IDRs are aligned with those of the sovereign while the Support Rating Floor (SRF) and Support Rating (SR) reflect a state guarantee for its debt. In Fitch's view, the Panamanian government has a vested interest in providing timely support to Banconal as it is considered a policy bank that plays an important role as the government's financial agent.
The Stable Outlook reflects Fitch's expectation that the issuer's Long-Term IDR will rema…

Bid for Corozal Terminal Moves Forward. The terminal is expected to play an important role in providing additional port capacity on the Pacific side of Panama in order to support the transshipment needs of the larger vessels going through the Expanded Panama Canal. The goal is to further position Panama as a logistics hub for the Americas.
The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has issued a request for proposals to the four pre-qualified port operators selected to compete for the concession to design, develop, finance, construct, operate and maintain a container terminal located near Corozal, in the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal.
Upon completion, the container terminal will have the capacity to handle more than five million TEUs at the Canal’s entrance in the Pacific side. The two-phased project will include the construction of a 2,081-linear-meter-dock, a container yard, offices and warehouse facilities within a 120-hectare area owned by the Panama Canal.
Corozal Container Terminal w…

Mex Rent A Car Opens Location at Tocumen PanamaAirport
Mex Rent A Car’s affiliation program has reached Panama with the opening of a location at TocumenInternationalAirport in Panama City.
“By having complete domain over the Spanish language, Mex can fully understand the customer needs/desires and provide the best experience to our affiliate and our mutual clients,” said Jordi Rivero, Mex Rent A Car’s chief product officer. “It goes so natural when both parties speak the same language and share some of the same culture.”
Within its metropolitan area, Panama City, holds nearly half of the country’s population.
“Since the market behavior in Panama is not exactly going unchanged for long, our new affiliate’s strategy will find in Mex the support it needs to keep up with our new competitors at Tocumen International Airport,” said Chris Reveles, Mex Rent A Car’s chief technology officer.
Mex Rent A Car now has 11 affiliate locations internationally, including Panama. Canada, the U.S., Mexico…

Grupo Hotusa arrives in Panama with the launch of Eurostars Panama
The company adds the former Hotel&Casino Royal Sonesta to its portfolio, the group's first premises in Panama and its fourteenth in Latin America.
The five star hotel, located in a 27-storey building, has 300 rooms and over 900 m2 of meeting room space, as well as a restaurant with panoramic views.
The iconic building, which up until now had been run as the Hotel&Casino Royal Sonesta, will become the fourteenth premises operated by the company in Latin America. Of the other projects run by the group in the region, the most notable is the Eurostars Torre Bacatá 5* in the Colombian capital.
Eurostars Panamá City 5* occupies a modern, 27-storey building with 300 rooms, over 900 m2 of space for holding all kinds of professional meetings and events, in addition to a restaurant on the 26th floor with spectacular panoramic views over the old town of the Panama capital. The top floor of the hotel has a swimming pool a…

TOCUMEN S.A. doubles capacity of  Panama Pacifico airport. THE PANAMA PACIFICOairport terminal will double its capacity over the next three years to attract more budget airlines and charter flights.
The $9.1 million project is part  of a master plan  developed by the administration of  of Tocumen, S.A., which oversees the country’s airports, The plan will increase the number of ticket counters from three to seven and expand the areas for passengers and immigration.
It  also calls for the installation of luggage carousels and upgrading the runway to meet international standards. This includes improving the security fence around the airport, a contract that has already been awarded for $181,990.
The contract for expanding the airport will be tendered on Oct. 23. Currently, the budget carrier Viva Colombia operates two flights a day from Panama Pacifico, which is located at a former US air force base.
In the first eight months of this year, the facility handled 85,598 passengers, a 6.3 decre…