When the Spanish engineering group Duro Felguera announced at the end of February that two Mexican investors were coming to its rescue, no one was surprised. The company, considered strategic by the Government, had spent months knocking on all business doors without success, until two ended up opening: that of the Mexican businessman José Miguel Bejos and that of the industrial group from the same country, Mota-Engil, which bills about 3,500 million euros a year. Together they will contribute 90 million euros and will facilitate the survival of a company that has been convalescing for years.
Also a few days ago, the Mexican Amodio family consolidated itself as the first and indisputable shareholder of the construction company OHLA, with its 26% of the capital. The novelty was actually the non-appearance of the founding shareholder, Juan Miguel Villar Mir, who sold 7% and retired 36 years after the company. The acronym OHL, which comes from Obrascón Huarte Lain, has been added the A of the Amodios. The new name, OHLA, shines on the top of the Emperador building, one of the four towers in Madrid.
These two cases are just one example of Mexico’s strength in Spain. The GDP of the North American country is close to reaching that of Spain and, when choosing a place to move money, Madrid and Barcelona emerge as great destinations. The Mexican business elite has invested some 3,500 million euros in Spain in the last four years, according to data from the Secretary of State for Commerce.
“Spain is a safe and natural place to invest. There is cultural interpenetration and the chance to meet a lot of people”, says Iker Arriola, the partner in charge in Spain of one of the large Mexican law firms, Creel, which has just opened its first office outside his country in Madrid. Mexican investors are seeking “diversification beyond the United States and complementary opportunities,” he explains. As he says, the trend “will continue.”
Mexican businessmen have been charging large business pieces in Spain for a decade and the entry into Duro Felguera only confirms the phenomenon. They started with the Yelmo cinemas and the Bimbo brand, to which they added Camprofrío, Grupo Vips, Avanza buses, Amrest restaurants and several hotels, apart from investments in construction and real estate. The magnate Carlos Slim continues to expand his investments and is already the main shareholder of FCC, Realia and Metrovacesa. The Embassy of Mexico estimates that there are already some 500 companies from the country established in Spain that generate 30,000 jobs.
“He is an investor who comes with a very high level of wealth to invest in quite dynamic sectors,” says José Luis López Hermida, director of private clients and family offices at KPMG Abogados. Apart from business investment, the Mexican fortunes are interested in “the renewal and profitability of residential assets.”
The Mexican influence extends in all areas. “We already have three former presidents living in Spain,” says a businessman. He is referring to the Spanish government’s decision to grant residence permits to Felipe Calderón and Enrique Peña Nieto at the end of last year, as well as nationality to Carlos Salinas de Gortari. The former governor of the Bank of Mexico, Agustín Carstens, has just become one of the few foreign economists to receive the King of Spain Award for Economics, and two ministers attended the award ceremony.
As part of this particular “soft diplomacy”, the Mexican presence is evident in the most exclusive areas of Madrid. The country’s businessmen have just opened two luxury restaurants, Fisher’s and Bakan, in the Salamanca neighborhood and opposite the Puerta de Alcalá. The Villagna premium hotel, in the heart of Paseo de la Castellana, was until recently owned by the Mexican firm RLH and continues to function as a nerve center for businessmen in the country. Casa de México, promoted by Valentín Díez Morodo, has also become a pole of culture and influence.
However, where the power of the Mexican investor is most appreciated is in the brick. A Colliers report shows that 60% of home purchases of more than four million euros in Madrid have been made by foreign investors, among which Mexicans are in the lead. In Barcelona, ??the Socimi Quonia, controlled in part by the Mexican businessman Alfonso de Angoitia Noriega, is listed on BME Growth, while the firm from the same country Begrand landed last year in Spain to invest 100 million in Madrid and Malaga.
“In Barcelona the buyer has generally been more European, but in Madrid Mexicans are acquiring very specific houses in exclusive areas such as the Salamanca district,” says Luis Valdés, the head of Residential Sales Advisory at Colliers. They often do so attracted by the golden visa, which Spain has offered since 2013 and which it continues to hold for any non-EU citizen willing to invest more than 500,000 euros in a property. The European Commission is critical of this incentive and Portugal wants to withdraw it precisely because it contributes to raising housing prices in the center of Lisbon.
In Madrid, Latin American fortunes are transforming old traditional streets into luxurious settings. A project in front of the Puerta de Alcalá of homes of 600 square meters at 6,000 euros per meter sold out at full speed and is considered ground zero for this trend in the real estate sector. The Terralpa firm, which manages the fortunes of Mexican families, has announced the purchase of buildings in the center of Madrid, while a Mexican holding company, Finaccess, has about 15% of the Catalan socimi Colonial, which is part of the Ibex.
“Mexican businessmen are very prepared and now they are optimizing their money by investing in more diverse projects,” qualifies the CEO of Airtouch Media, Armando Ávila Kramis, a Mexican who has lived in Spain for decades. He breaks the stereotype that Mexicans are only interested in real estate, with the precision that they realized before anyone else that Madrid and Barcelona were among the cheapest European capitals.
There was also a point of acceleration in 2018. That year Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) won the elections and caused a particular flight of fortunes to Spain, in search of a second residence. Donald Trump’s hostility towards Mexico also helped, reducing the attractiveness of the country that, naturally, most attracts Mexicans. The next elections in Mexico will be held in 2024.
