THE BANKERS OF Mexico have always been the favorite political enemy of Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The idea of the 4T government buying Banamex passed through his mind.
And lastly, to veto Javier Arrigunaga and Pedro Aspe, who could be the next director and president of the bank’s Board of Directors, if Germán Larrea wins.
Not even in the worst times of the nationalization of José López Portillo and the reprivatization of Carlos Salinas de Gortari, had a president so severely and systematically criticized the Mexican bankers as the one from Tabasco, particularly Roberto Hernández and Banamex.
For Citi, the relationship with the 4T government has been very complicated, because they always think about whether or not the bidders to buy the bank like the tenant of the National Palace, despite the fact that the Secretary of the Treasury, Rogelio Ramírez de la Or, he was a director of Citibank Mexico in the late 80’s and early 90’s and was still his client until not long ago.
In 1999 López Obrador published the book “Fobaproa: expediente abierto”, in which he denounced the “stuck” that bankers and officials had during the bank privatization.
But above all, the favors that the privatized banks did to business friends of the new owners of Banamex and the cost that this represented for the government’s finances, which in the end became public debt.
It is known that after the publication of that book, a group of Mexican businessmen, led precisely by the bankers Hernández and Harp, began a media campaign against the Tabasco politician.
During the 2017-2018 presidential race, but above all as Chief Executive Officer, López Obrador missed no opportunity to go against officials who served the bankers and against the bankers themselves, whom he warned of the dangers of “releasing to the tiger.”
These were the cases of Guillermo Ortiz, Francisco Gil Díaz and Arrigunaga himself, as well as other executives who ended up at White & Case, the legal firm that would become an appendix to the Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Mexico and Banamex.
During the first two years of Q4, Alfonso Romo served as a buffer between the federal government and the bankers, largely due to the business relationship he had with Aspe at the Vector brokerage house.
Already in the final stretch of the purchase of Banamex, Jane Fraser’s team at Citi New York seeks to obtain the highest possible income for the bank, but without hurting the relationship with the obradorista government.
THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF the new Mexican owned by the Secretary of Defense, commanded by Luis Cresencio Sandoval, took even the workers and unions themselves by surprise, who are trying to understand what the sayings of Andrés Manuel López Obrador mean for their future. It is clear that once the brand ceases to be part of his meager patrimony, there will be hardly anything left to sell from what was the most powerful aviation company in Mexico.
Within the package that includes the 303 brands that still make up Mexicana’s heritage, is the Training Center that has two flight simulators for pilots: one for Boeing 727 and another for Airbus A320, as well as training facilities for flight attendants; a building in Guadalajara, another in the CdMx and some other assets such as spare parts and old cars.
The only thing that is outside of this mass is the Maintenance Center (MRO), which lacks an appraisal because it is technically bankrupt and too many interests and problems come together in its shareholding that make it almost impossible to sell. Of course, if the government of the 4T and the military wanted to buy this entire package, they would have an advantage, but in the midst of Franciscan austerity it seems difficult for the arrangement to be satisfactory. An unexpected end in the hands of the Obradorismo that used as a flag a rescue that today tastes like dispossession. The second, after that of Gastón Azcárraga Andrade and the group that accompanied him.
MEXICO AND CANADA won the automotive panel, and although the three governments, including the United States, have six weeks to review the details of the resolution, it is most likely that despite the additional comments that arise, it will not change the meaning of the final resolution. The experts decided that in rules of origin if a powertrain is 75% regional content, it is automatically considered within the T-MEC.
The Joe Biden government wanted all components to be measured, including trim and wheels. This is a very important victory for the automotive industry established in the country, not so much for the 4T, nor for its Secretary of Economy, now led by Raquel Buenrostro. The one that “fajó” and paid for the intense lobbying in Washington was the industry: auto parts, assembly companies and Mexican distributors.
WITH AN INVESTMENT of about 120 million pesos Octavio Romero’s Pemex seeks to change the façade of a hundred gas stations throughout the country that maintain the institutional image of previous governments. However, due to a lack of offers or solid participants, a few days ago the open tender for the service of “Removal of Existing Image, Conditioning, Supply and Installation of Elements for the change of the Institutional Image at the Petróleos Facilities” had to be declared void. Mexicans”.
At first, firms such as Raúl Camou’s Isa Corporativo, closely linked to the 4T, showed interest, but only two unknown corporate names ended up sending a quote: Veintiocho Creatividad SA de CV and Sumca SA de CV, the latter company from Tamaulipas born during the government of Francisco Javier Garcia Cabeza de Vaca.
RECENTLY, THE Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences warned that the industry is going through an unprecedented crisis due to lack of support and budget. In this situation, Guillermo del Toro, after noticing a “systematic destruction” of Mexican cinema and its institutions in the present administration, offered to pay for the Ariel Awards that were going to be suspended due to lack of resources.
To these initiatives to rescue the sector was added this week Exitus Capital, by Carlos Rahmane, which opened a fund of 50 million dollars to finance around 20 national films so that they can cover their expenses, from the pre-production process to post-production , which will have a period of up to 24 months to return the investment.
THE MEXICAN ENERGY ASSOCIATION appointed Abraham Zamora Torres as its new president for the period 2022-2024. The new leader will seek to privilege dialogue with the authorities to promote the development of a competitive, efficient and sustainable electrical system.
#return #Aspe #Arrigunaga