Category: Regions

Mexican media company Televisa is preparing to lead a bid for Univision, the largest Spanish-speaking broadcaster in the US. The Los Angeles-based company was put up for sale in February and bids are likely to top $12 billion, according to industry reports. The company currently has a market value of just under $11 billion. The group led by Televisa includes Caracas-based Venevision Investments, and several US private equity firms. Another bidder is also expected to step forward: a group comprising Israeli investor Haim Saban and a number of US firms.

ICA Fluor, a joint venture between Mexico’s ICA and Texas company Fluor Daniels, announced a $108 million contract to expand capacity at a polypropylene plant in northern Mexico. Alpek, the petrochemical subsidiary of conglomerate Grupo Alfa, awarded the contract.

Mexico’s Federal Competition Commission (CFC) is looking to force Telefonos de Mexico SA (Telmex) to open its phone network to cable operators, who could offer customers lower rates. Mexico has some of the highest phone rates in the world and Telmex still holds onto 95 percent of the domestic phone market, 10 years after it was opened to competition. The regulator hopes new legislation will enable it to force compliance from a company that has successfully defied attempts to impose conditions on its operations in the courts.

Ford Motor Co. confirmed press reports it will expand output in Mexico as it seeks to reduce reliance on its high-cost U.S. plants. Ford will invest an unspecified amount at its large plants in Hermosillo, Sonora, Chihuahua, Chihuahua and Mexico City. Ford started producing cars in Mexico in 1925. The company did not confirm earlier reports it would invest $9 billion in the plants.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the left-wing contender in Mexico’s July presidential elections, said he will ignore parts of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which call for the abolition of agricultural tariffs by 2008. He said Mexican farmers could not compete on even terms against U.S. corn and beans and the effects on the countryside would be disastrous. He also proposed a set of price guarantees, subsidies and cheap credits. Lopez Obrador is running neck and neck in the polls with conservative candidate Felipe Calderon.

A spokesman for Mexico’s Grupo Financiero Banorte has denied press rumors the bank is to be sold to Canada’s Scotiabank. Banorte is the only remaining major locally owned bank in Mexico in a market dominated by foreign-controlled financial entities. Banorte’s share price has been fluctuating wildly as first Bank of America and then Scotiabank were rumored to be interested in buying the Mexican bank.