Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala

Entries categorized as ‘Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala’

A woman’s touch

27 October 2008 · Leave a Comment

Although women are beginning to break the “glass ceiling” in Mexico, it’s still usually through inheritance. While women have achieved high level positions in politics on their own, it’s still rare to find a woman business tycoon who did not inherit her stake in the business, like Grupo Modelo’s María Asunción Aramburuzabala, who had to fight her brothers-in-law for control of the company after her father’s death. And, although her business empire is under seige, another woman tycoon has managed — though elimination of her relations (by business rivals and others) to gain control of one of the larger Mexican business enterprises:

Mexico. Eduardo Arellano-Felix the alleged leader of Mexico’s Arelano-Felix Cartel was arrested on Saturday evening after a shootout in Tijuana, Mexico which is located by the US border.

Eduardo Arellano, also known as “The Doctor,” is an alleged leader of one of the most powerful drug cartels in the world: Mexico’s Arellano-Felix Cartel. He is accused of traﬀicking hundreds of tonnes of cocaine and marijuana to the US.

According to the Mexican defence department, police arrested the suspect on Saturday evening after chasing his car to a home in an upscale neighbourhood of Tijuana.

Mr Arellano-Felix and his sister, Enedina Arellano-Felix, took over the leadership of the cartel after several of their brothers were either arrested or killed, the Mexican authorities say. Still, Enedina Arellano-Felix is the only main suspect from the family who remains at large.

…

The Arellano-Felix family dominated the smuggling of cocaine and marijuana into California in the 1990s and are feared for its ruthless elimination of enemies. The weakening of the family has led other Mexican drug cartels to move in on Tijuana, transforming the city into a chaotic battleground in Felipe Caderon’s drug war.

Bilhá Calderón (Sendero de Peje, Jalisco)

Categories: Baja California · Crime and Punishment · Drugs · Economy & Business · Informal economy · Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala · Provincia · Tijuana · Women

The cold one war… Anheiser-Busch v. Modelo

19 October 2008 · 3 Comments

It’s complicated: Anheiser-Busch (maker of watered-down urine colored beverages) is half-owner of Grupo Modelo, which brews Corona, Modelo, Pacifico and Victoria beers, among others. According to Modelo, a 1993 partnership agreement with Anheiser-Busch requires Modelo’s approval of any stock transfers.

Anheiser-Busch has been negotiating a friendly takeover by the Anglo-Brazilian brewer InBev (Becks, Bass, Bohemia, Brahma… and on and on) for $52 million dollars. Even with the economic meltdown, apparently breweries still have money (at least they create a real product, and not loans on the theoretical value of the future of loans based on… whatever). Modelo has not been a partner to the agreement and is demanding to pull out of the deal, or at least be granted the right to buy back it’s shares from Anheiser-Busch.

InBev is seeking to control the world beer market, so wants the deal to go through (plus, being a company with Euros, a dollar deal is particuarly attractive right now) and the whole thing will end up in arbitration, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Heidi N. Moore:

“What InBev and Anheuser-Bush have done is give [Modelo’s claims] the back of their hand since the beginning,” complained a person familiar with Modelo’s thinking. “It’s mealy-mouthed,” a person close to InBev and A-B said of the arbitration threat.

InBev and A-B say it would be unwise for Modelo to scuttle the deal, considering that A-B shareholders want that $70 a share deal price and probably would sue for it. That could result in a hefty legal tab for Modelo. For their part, A-B shareholders don’t seem concerned; the stock inched up 0.3% today to $59.95.

Modelo’s Mexican stock is controlled by Tresalia Capital — the business set up by María Asunción Aramburuzabala when she diversified her fortune (she was the heiress to the beer empire) into media, telecommunications and private education. There is a political connection with the United States. Mr. María Asunción Aramburuzabala is Texas political hack and Bush crony turned United States Ambassador Antonio Garza, Jr. If the Anheiser-Busch sale goes through, it would be one of the few recent stock deals that earn money for the investors (never mind that it moves another U.S. company into foreign control). If Modelo pulls out, it would be able to make it’s own deals with InBev, probably giving the Mexican company a larger stake in the international beverage giant… and giving Mexican beers a higher profile internationally than they would enjoy as a partly U.S. owned brand.

There must be some ticklish conversations around the Aramburuzabala-Garza household these days.

But, the real question is… will the beer be any good?

Categories: Beer · Brazil · Clueless gringos in Mexico · Economy & Business · Food and Drink · Great Britain · Gringo(landia) · Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala · Multinationals · Tony Garza (U.S. Ambassador to Mexico) · World (outside the Americas)

Can You Spare a Peso?

17 August 2006 · Leave a Comment

Chances are that you’re not in the quite ready, but if you’re in the business of building a Mexican dysnasty, you should at least familiarize yourself with some of your fellow “players”. It’s not my job (in this piece) to trash the rich and powerful in Mexico. I simply want to “introduce” some of the movers and shakers who are playing a big role influencing and shaping modern Mexico. Be your own judge.

Chris Hawley of the Arizona Republic wrote an interesting article about Mexico’s dynasties and some of the challenges they are facing as they enter the U.S. markets and as some of their aging founders pass the baton to their young’uns.
www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0816grupos.html

“Carlos Slim is rich. Insanely rich. Astronomically rich. If you took his $37.6 billion and laid the dollar bills end to end, they would stretch to the moon and back seven times, that’s how rich he is.” ~ Chris Hawley of the Arizona Republic

Slim (66 yrs old) bought Telmex for a cool $443 million (in 1990). He’s made his fortune in the communications business. He has expanded by buying CompUSA and he owns a substantial piece of Saks Fifth Ave. He could afford to smile a little…. don’t you think? Slim is with Grupo Carso.

Slim’s business controls about 90% of the hard line phones in Mexico (Telmex). He’s heavily invested in insurance, cell phones (American Movil), retail, cigarettes(Cigatam), restaurants (Sanborns), and auto parts stores. http://www.newint.org/issue368/worldbeaters.htm

With the help of Rudolph Giuliani, Slim has launched a huge restoration project in the Historic District of Mexcio City. After the clean-up, the eventual plan is to push the vendors, homeless kids, and the poor out of the district in order to raise property values. Since Slim owns a substantial amount of property in the Historic District, it’s seen as a self-serving move rather than simply a nationalistic one.

Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala (39 yrs old) sure has good reason to smile. She known as the “Beer Queen” of Latin America. She has investments in Grupo Modelo, maker of Corona and Negra Modelo. A wealth of 2 billion earned her the title of Mexico’s richest woman. Cheers, Maria!

Maria made another power move last year by marrying Antonio Garza Jr. (Bush confidant and U.S. ambassador to Mexico). After a house hunting trip to Austin, Texas last year, the speculation is that the power couple may be making a bid to run for the governorship of Texas. Maria has been quoted as saying, ” “It wouldn’t surprise me if someday I am ‘living in the great state’ campaigning by his side”

Media mogul, Emilio Azcarraga, leads Mexico’s biggest TV network, Televisa. At the young age of 38, Emilio is worth about 1.7 billion dollars. He looks like he’s pleased with himself. With his family ensconced in a media and sports empire, he can probably get the best seats in the house at any futbol stadium in the world. Emilio is part of the Televisa Grupo. Last year, he was making plans to become a U.S. citizen so that he could increase his stake in Univision (U.S. based Spanish TV).

Led by Lorenzo Zambrano (60), Mexico’s Cemex company is the world’s largest cement company. Lorenzo has aggressively bought up cement businesses in the U.S., Mexico, Spain, France, Latin America and much of the world. He’s bucked the trend to diversify by concentrating souly on the business he knows best. Lorenzo’s fortune is put at $2 billion.

Last year the Wall Street Journal tarnished his reputation by accusing his company of gouging the poor people of Mexico, but Lorenzo didn’t let that slow him down. Lorenzo stays low-key and lives on a hillside in Monterrey.

Here’s a link to Lorenzo’s amazing/gutsy career: http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=5017200

These are just a few of the rich and powerful in Mexico who are investing their capital in the Mexico and around the globe. Last year, Mexico’s elite invested over $6.7 billion in the U.S. businesses.

“The numbers show that far from being just a source of illegal migrants, Mexico is increasingly becoming a source of investors. Here we are, complaining about illegal immigration and saying Mexicans should get out of our country, so it’s extremely surprising for Americans to find that there is a huge amount of foreign direct investment coming in (from Mexico).” ~ Dawn McLaren, a research economist at Arizona State University