Bertelsmann is building its presence is South America with a new corporate centre opening in Brazil.

The Sao Paulo offices will be the contact point for the South American expansion efforts of the German-headquartered international media conglomerate. The new centre will be headed by former senior vice-president of the group’s corporate development department Thomas Mackenbrock.

Bertelsmann currently employs approximately 3,000 people in South America through some of its subsidiaries. Fremantle Media, the production arm of RTL Group, sells several formats in the region including Idol and The Apprentice and book publishing subsidiary Random House Monadadori operates in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Colombia and Uraguay. Publishing house Gruner + Jahr also owns three Motor-Presse offshoots in Argentina, Mexico and Brazil and customer service company Arvato operates across several parts of South America.

“Our new office in Brazil will strengthen Bertelsmann’s international network. It is crucial to have a central anchor in the three most important future markets for us, China, India and Brazil,” says Bertelsmann chairman and chief executive Thomas Rabe. “The new corporate centre will help to further develop our existing activities in this region and expand them into new businesses, for example, in the fields of education and digital media.”

A corporate centre has been established in China since 2006 and in February this year, Bertelsmann also opened up a new corporate centre in India. The group operates in 50 countries and has more than 100,000 employees worldwide. It generates annual revenues of approximately $19.2bn.

Rabe took up the chief executive post at Bertelsmann in October last year. In March this year, he unveiled the group’s long-term plans to reshape the company over the next five to 10 years, focusing more on digital and international business.