Who is German Larrea?
Germán Larrea Mota Velasco is originally from Mexico City, but your date of birth is not exact. Various sources suggest that he was born on October 26 between 1941 and 1953. Before seeing the light, his destiny was already framed by a business environment.
His father, Jorge Larrea Ortega, began in the business sector during the six-year term of President Miguel Alemán Valdez, through the construction company Construcciones Jorge Larrea, but it was years later when he met Bruno Pagliai of Tubos de Acero de México, a the one who was a shareholder, who This relationship would mark his official foray into the metallurgical and steel industry, and with it, also that of his son.
Germán Larrea studied Business Administration at the Anahuac University. Since 1994, his knowledge found the right way to get startedbeing in that year when he became president of the Board of Directors, president and general director of Grupo México.
Upon assuming these positions, the tycoon already had a robust company. In 1988, the Cananea mining company, which would later acquire the name of Grupo México, bought the government shares of the La Caridad mine, which served as a watershed for the company to currently position itself as the main copper producer in the country.
The banking sector, something really new for Larrea?
If he had bought Banamex, the businessman would not have entered completely new territory. According to the website of Southern Copper Corporation, a mining company based in Arizona, United States, and which is indirectly considered part of Grupo México, from 1992 to 2015 German Larrea He was a member of the board of the Banco Nacional de México and member of the Banamex Financial Group.
Elías González Rogel, professor of the Financial Management area of the Pan-American Institute of Senior Business Management (IPADE), believes that, if he acquired the bank, the tycoon I would not enter an unknown path.
“He is a guy who is accredited and known by the international financial markets, and that generates an important advantage,” he says.
The list of main shareholders that Grupo México had in 2015 contains multiple bank names, such as State Street Bank and Trust Co., JP Morgan Chase Bank and Bank of New York Mellon SA/NV, according to the company’s annual report for that year, published on the Mexican Stock Exchange. The latest reports do not have this information.
In 2008, the tycoon acquired the company Cinemex for 315 million dollars, of which González Rogel estimates that 70 million dollars were obtained through credit, noting that “He is more a businessman than a miner.”
The failed purchase of Banamex and the occupation of Ferrosur tracks
In mid-2023, the Federal Government imposed some conditions for the acquisition of the bank, among which it stands out that it be carried out with Mexican capital, that no worker is fired, that the firm’s cultural heritage be preserved in the country and that the buyer is up to date with the payment of his taxes. According to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Both Larrea and Becker had all the conditions.
In May, López Obrador spoke positively about the sale of the bank by the American Citigroup to Grupo México, headed by Larrea.
“We have information that the negotiations are on the right track and that one of the possible buyers is Grupo México. We have transmitted to the directors of Citibanamex that the Government of Mexico has no objection in this regard.”
However, a week after the president’s statements, Citigroup announced that he would make a initial public offering of consumer businesses, small businesses and banking services to medium-sized companies in its unit in Mexico Banamex.
Uncertainty began to grow after the Government of Mexico published a decree in the Official Gazette of the Federation to occupy a section of the Ferrosur track, owned by Grupo México by Germán Larrea.
This measure was justified by the Government, arguing the importance of the railway line for a key infrastructure project promoted by President López Obrador. This project aims to connect the coasts of the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico through a commercial corridor, with the purpose of promoting development in the impoverished southern region of the country.
The president declared that, if necessary, he is willing to pay compensation to Grupo México. In addition, he mentioned that the company’s lawyers proposed to the Government that it be granted a compensation of 9,500 million pesos after the section was declared a public utility area. But López Obrador ruled out this possibility and said that they would seek to reach a non-monetary agreement with the company.