Grupo México S.A.B. de C.V. is a powerful listed Mexican copper mining multinational and conglomerate as well after operating two side businesses in Mexico. Its core mining operations encompass the extraction of copper, molybdenum, zinc, lead, gold and silver. These mining operations are held together under one publicly-traded subsidiary and two closely-held subsidiaries under a parent company known as Americas Mining Corporation. The two side businesses in Mexico comprise a railway division with operations in the US and an infrastructure division. The former operates four different railroads and its ownership is shared with Union Pacific Corporation which holds a 25% economic interest in the company. The infrastructure division, on the other hand, is owned entirely and engages in various business activities of incursion including civil engineering contracting, industrial engineering contracting, oil-field services, toll road concessions, infrastructure development, storage of liquid fuels and commercial real estate development. All told, the mining operations generate around $ 11 billion a year in total consolidated sales while the railway division generates over $ 2 billion a year in sales. By the same token, the infrastructure division generates close to $ 1 billion a year in sales leaving the copper mining focused Mexican conglomerate with close to $ 15 billion a year in total reported consolidated sales. Controlled by shrewd Mexican billionaire Germán Larrea Mota-Velasco who inherited his ownership stake in the company from his deceased father Jorge Larrea Ortega, he expanded the mining operations exponentially by buying outright distressed mining interests from the Mexican government itself in the late 1980s and early in the 1990s, turning them around accordingly under the administration of Carlos Salinas de Gortari. Similarly, he spearheaded the expansion of the mining group abroad after buying miners in Spain, Peru and the US early in the new millennium. In the US alone, Grupo México wholly owns ASARCO LLC, a prominent copper miner on American soil and two railroad companies known as Florida East Coast Railway LLC and Texas Pacifico Transportation Limited. In Spain, Grupo México controls Minera Los Frailes S.L. and in Peru the copper mining focused conglomerate controls Southern Copper Corporation. The latter trades in Peru and here in the US as an ADR on the NYSE, under the ticker symbol (SCCO). Likewise, Southern Copper Corporation holds copper mining rights in Peru after concentrating the bulk of its operations there and in Mexico as well through complete ownership of Minera México S.A. de C.V. Minera México alone by itself is responsible for 87.5% of the entire copper ore output extracted on Mexican ground.
Moreover, the core mining division of Grupo México is the third largest copper miner globally in terms of output currently standing at well over one million metric tons of copper ore annually when including all of its three operations combined. In fact, alone by itself Southern Copper Corporation is the fifth biggest copper mining operation worldwide with close to a million metric tons of output. Presently, only two competitors are ahead of Grupo México in terms of copper ore extracted. Accordingly, these competitors are the American mining multinational known as Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Corporation and the state-owned copper producer in Chile known as CODELCO. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold currently produces over 2 million metric tons of copper ore a year. Nevertheless, Grupo México is today the single largest holder of copper mineral rights with proven reserves amounting to several tens of millions metric tons of copper ore sitting underground in Peru, Mexico, Spain and the US. Overall, the three copper mining operations held under their parent company known as Americas Mining Corporation and consisting of ASARCO, Minera Los Frailes and Southern Copper Corporation conduct ongoing extraction in 14 different mines while operating 52 industrial plants between metal refineries and smelters.
Furthermore, the railway division of Grupo México is known as Grupo México Transporters S.A.B. de C.V. and comprises four wholly-owned subsidiaries, two in Mexico and two in America. These wholly-owned subsidiaries are Ferromex S.A. de C.V., Ferrosur S.A. de C.V., Florida East Coast Railway LLC and Texas Pacifico Transportation Limited respectively. Held under the parent company mentioned just recently, the division is shared with the American railroad juggernaut known as Union Pacific Corporation after holding a 25% economic interest in it. Altogether, in Mexico alone, the division operates 5,970 miles of railway tracks belonging to Ferromex and 1,649 miles of railway tracks belonging to Ferrosur resulting in the operation of 7,500 miles of railway tracts in total on Mexican soil. Initially operating Ferromex in Mexico only, Grupo México acquired Ferrosur in an all-stock merger transaction amounting to $ 309 million in 2011 after a lengthy court ruling process of several years from a legal attempt by its closest competitor in Mexico known then as Kansas City Southern de México S.A. de C.V. to block the deal citing anticompetitive concerns. In similar fashion, Ferrosur was until then a wholly-owned subsidiary of Minera Frisco S.A.B. de C.V., the listed mining arm of Mexico’s Carlos Slim Helú. All told, the railway division in Mexico reaches five major inland cities across the country, five cities bordering the US, four marine terminals in the Pacific and one marine terminal in the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, the division is active in the states of Florida and Texas in the US and owns a fleet of 800 locomotives and 26,300 freight cars in total between the four railroads combined.
On the other hand, the infrastructure division is the newest and smallest of them all but presently showing bright prospects ahead after undergoing robust organic growth and a strategic acquisition made in 2023. The strategic acquisition comprises expansion into commercial real estate development after buying a Mexican developer known as Planigrupo LATAM S.A.B. de C.V in 2023 and kept today under its wholly-owned subsidiary known as Grupo Inmobiliario UPAS S.A. de C.V. This operation currently has around 800 thousand square meters of gross leasable area contained within its mall property portfolio. Overall, the infrastructure division is known as Grupo México Infraestructura S.A. de C.V. and engages in business activities ranging from engineering contracting and oil-field services to toll road concessions and commercial real estate development. Being an important contractor for the state-owned national petroleum corporation in Mexico known as Petróleos Mexicanos S.A. de C.V., commonly known by its acronym as PEMEX, the entire division is the fastest growing within the group nowadays. Altogether, Grupo México generated over $ 14 billion in total consolidated sales in its last fiscal year alone while netting over $ 3 billion in profits in the process according to Forbes. Likewise, the Mexican multinational and copper mining focused conglomerate trades at a market value reaching $ 40 billion today leaving his controller shareholder Germán Larrea Mota-Velasco with a hefty fortune currently ranked both by Bloomberg L.P. and Forbes as the second richest Mexican national. In addition, Mr. Larrea Mota-Velasco’s mother Sara Mota de Larrea holds a shareholding in the company as well presently kept separately.
To conclude, Grupo México is a constituent member of the Mexican stock market index known as the IPC as well as the broader regional S&P Latin America 40. The giant multinational is an icon of business success in Mexico. In fact, only Fomento Económico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V., América Móvil S.A.B. de C.V. and Walmart de México y Centroamérica S.A.B. de C.V. presently trade at a richer market valuation than Grupo México in its home country. Tarnished by just over a dozen accidents between mine disasters and acid spills, most of them related to its fully-owned American unit known as ASARCO, the death toll has been minimal and the company has acted responsibly complying with all pertinent investigations, compensatory damages and regulations from authorities to prevent them from happening in the future. Mexican billionaire Germán Larrea Mota-Velasco has expanded a mining operation wisely over four decades of hard work and dedication to smoothly integrate vast copper mining operations in four countries and two side businesses growing them accordingly with utmost efficiency and lucrative cost-savings. Today, Grupo México is an exemplary copper mining multinational from Mexico making the nation proud.