Eventual Sigma IPO Likely: Alfa

Grupo Alfa sees an IPO for its Sigma Alimentos food products unit within the next few years, its CFO says. “At some point, when there are more growth projects in our portfolio, not specifically next year, but in the next few years, you could see Sigma coming out to the market,” Ramon Leal tells LatinFinance. New Mexican equity issuers have been hard to come by in recent years, but Alfa has been doing its part. The MXP10.44bn ($794m) IPO of its Alpek petrochemicals unit in April was the country’s first since July 2011. “Companies that are benefitting today from the growth of Mexico, that are mid-sized companies above $1bn, which are many in Mexico, are likely to get financed in the capital markets. I don’t think you will see a rate of issuances similar to Brazil, but you will start to see more companies coming to the market. The diversification of sources of finance will include for many Mexican companies the capital markets and the Bolsa in Mexico,” the official says.