M&A Newsletter — January 2024

Mexico's Gus, a developer of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools and chatbots for enterprises based in Mexico City, was acquired by Blip AI for an undisclosed amount.

Mexico's Tequila Don Ramón (a subsidiary of Dialce), a tequila producer for sale through major supermarket chains and liquor stores based in Mexico City, was acquired by Luis Miguel for an undisclosed amount.

Mexico's Santa María, a gold and silver mining project based in Parral, Chihuahua, owned by Golden Minerals (NYS: AUMN), was acquired by Transformaciones Y Servicios Metalúrgicos for USD $1.50 million.

Mexico's Polymat, a polymeric-resin supplier for the plastics-processing industry based in León, Guanajuato, was acquired by Tricon International for an undisclosed amount.

Mexico's Prosa México, an electronic-payments provider aimed at promoting the development of financial institutions in the payment-methods market based in Mexico City, reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by Visa (NYS: V) for an undisclosed amount.

Mexico's Armony Luxury Resort, an operator of an adults-only secluded luxury resort based in Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit, reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by Marival Group for USD $15.50 million.

Plastiglas de México (a subsidiary of Brazil's Unigel), an operator of an acrylic-sheet extrusion plant based in Ocoyoacac, Estado de México, reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by Grupo Verzatec for an undisclosed amount.

Mexico's Q-Logistics, a logistics-services provider for domestic and foreign companies based in Guadalajara, Jalisco, was acquired by Tricon International for an undisclosed amount.

Mobile Streams (LON: MOS) reached a definitive agreement to acquire a 10% stake in Capital Media Sports, a sports-media services provider based in Mexico, for MXN $5.00 million.

China's Sailun Jinyu Group Company (SHG: 601058) and Mexico's Tire Direct, manufacturers of tires for the light-vehicle industry, reached a definitive agreement to form a joint venture based in León, Guanajuato, named SL & TD Tire Manufacturing, with an investment of USD $240.00 million.

Mexico's Grupo Carso (MEX: GCARSO) reached a definitive agreement to acquire a 50% stake in the Ichalkil and Pokoch oil fields based in Campeche, owned by PetroBal (a subsidiary of Grupo Bal), for USD $530.00 million.

A 60% stake in U.S.-based Rail Ferry Vessel Holdings, a provider of maritime rail-car transportation services between the U.S. and Mexico, was acquired by Grupo México Transportes (a subsidiary of Grupo México (MEX: GMEXICOB)) for an undisclosed amount.

Santander Asset Management, the asset-management arm of Grupo Santander, reached a definitive agreement to acquire BNP Paribas's asset-management and mutual-fund operations business in Mexico for an undisclosed amount.

Mexico's Tu Dinero Digital (Tudi), an Electronic Payment Funds Institution (IFPE) based in San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León, was acquired by Farmacias del Ahorro for an undisclosed amount.

Mexico's Tótem Computer, operator of a cloud-computing company serving students and professionals worldwide, based in San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León, is in the process of closing a seed funding round of USD $500,000.00.

Mexico's Excuela, a developer of a learning-management platform designed to foster a culture of continuous and social learning within organizations, closed a funding round of USD $400,000.00 with Inter-American Development Bank.

Mexico's La Bochería, operator of a bakery company based in San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León, closed a seed funding round for an undisclosed amount with Life is too short Capital.

Sweden's Bruder, a startup currently operating in stealth mode based in Stockholm, closed a seed funding round of USD $6.00 million led by Strata Health, Scope Capital and Veronorte. Escala Capital also participated in this round.

U.S.-based Río Bravo Systems, a provider of enterprise network management services for the oil, manufacturing, heavy industry, healthcare, retail and financial-institution sectors based in Englewood, Colorado, closed a funding round for an undisclosed amount with EMX Capital.

Chile's Strong By Form, a manufacturer of wood-based biocomposite materials designed to replace steel and concrete based in Santiago, closed a seed funding round of EUR €4.80 million led by CMPC Ventures, reaching a pre-money valuation of EUR €11.04 million. Nine other investors also participated in this round.

U.S.-based Mezcla, a plant-based protein-bar producer based in New York, closed a funding round of USD $4.00 million led by Santatera Capital and Dream Ventures. Jake Kassan and seven other individual investors also participated in this round.

U.S.-based Lisus, a clean-technology company dedicated to identifying the best sites for sourcing battery materials and reducing the environmental impact of their production based in Los Angeles, California, is in the process of closing a funding round of USD $1.50 million in the form of SAFE notes with Rumbo Ventures and Helene Ventures.

U.S.-based Dapta, a developer of a no-code platform based in Miami, Florida, closed a pre-seed funding round of USD $1.00 million led by 500 Global, Paramo Ventures, Fen Ventures, LatinLeap, Kuiper and Invariantes Fund. Other undisclosed investors also participated in this round.

Costa Rica's Avify, a developer of an inventory-management platform based in San José, closed a pre-seed funding round of USD $800,000.00 led by 500 Global, Caricaco and ZEMU Venture Capital. Ganas Ventures, Amplifica Capital, Venture Do and QAPU Ventures also participated in this round.

U.K.-based Peach Worlds, a London-based web-site-creation platform developer, closed a seed funding round of USD $540,000.00 with Blockchain Founders Fund, ID345 and other undisclosed investors.

Colombia's Cluvi, a Bucaramanga-based event-management application developer, closed a funding round for an undisclosed amount with GBM Ventures.

Mexico's Nonco, a digital-asset brokerage firm, closed a seed funding round of USD $10.00 million led by Valor Capital and Heck PVC. Morgan Creek Digital, CMCC and Lvna Capital, among others, also participated in this round.

Mexico's Yalo, operator of a San Francisco, California-based artificial-intelligence (AI)-powered conversational-commerce platform, announced an extension of its funding round with Glisco Partners for USD $20.00 million.

Uruguay's Brinta, a startup developing a tax-compliance platform for Latin America with presence in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru, closed a funding round of USD $5.00 million led by Kaszek Ventures. DST Global Partners, 17Sigma, Broadhaven, Latitud Ventures and Gilgamesh also participated in this round.

Datalogz, a company offering data-management, analytics and reporting solutions, closed a funding round of USD $5.00 million led by Great Point Ventures. Graphene Ventures, Squadra Ventures and Defined VC, among others, also participated in this round. The proceeds will be allocated to its expansion in Mexico and Latin America.

Mexico's Kapital, a banking-platform developer based in Mexico City, closed a financing round of USD $165.00 million in a combination of debt and equity led by Tribe Capital. MS&AD Ventures, Tru Arrow Partners, Alumni Ventures and Cervin also participated in this round. The debt portion of USD $125.00 million was provided by undisclosed lenders.

Argentina's N5, a fintech company specializing in software development for the financial industry, commenced operations in Mexico following its latest funding round, in which it raised USD $76.00 million in September 2023, with the participation of Illuminate Financial, J.P. Morgan, Citi and S&P Global, among others.

Mexico's Procap, a Tijuana, Baja California-based financial-services provider focused on offering payroll liquidity solutions to SMEs, closed a debt funding round of MXN $20.00 million with an undisclosed investor.

Mexico's Petróleos Mexicanos (MEX: PEMEX), operator of a Mexico City-based crude-oil and natural-gas exploration company, closed a debt refinancing round of USD $6,700.00 million.

Instituto Mexicano Americano de Veracruz, an educational-services provider based in Veracruz, was acquired by Merited, through its financial sponsor Discovery Americas, via an LBO for an undisclosed amount.

Mexico's Solvento, a SOFOM developing solutions for the freight-transport sector in Latin America, closed a debt financing round in the form of a credit line of USD $50.00 million with Lendable and an equity round for an undisclosed amount with Quona Capital.

Mexico's Grupo Innovasport, operator of a sporting-goods retail chain based in San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León, completed the closing of a syndicated credit facility of up to MXN $5,000.00 million with Banorte, BBVA, HSBC, Sabadell, Scotiabank and BanBajío.

Mexico's Cemex (MEX: CEMEX), a multinational company in the construction industry based in San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León, completed the closing of the Sustainability-Linked Bilateral Credit facility of up to MXN $6,000.00 million with Banorte.

Almacenadora Afirme (MEX: AFIRALM) completed the placement of short-term market securities (certificados bursátiles de corto plazo) for MXN $1,635.71 million on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) through Casa de Bolsa Base.

Arrendadora Afirme (MEX: AFIRMAR) completed the placement of short-term market securities (certificados bursátiles de corto plazo) for MXN $1,243.37 million on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) through Casa de Bolsa Base.

Factoraje Afirme (MEX: AFIRFAC) completed the placement of short-term market securities (certificados bursátiles de corto plazo) for MXN $194.65 million on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) through Casa de Bolsa Base.

Comisión Federal de Electricidad (MEX: CFE) carried out the placement of market securities (certificados bursátiles) for MXN $10,000.00 million on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) through broker-dealers Merrill Lynch México, Banorte, BBVA México, Santander and Scotia Inverlat.

Financiera Bepensa (MEX: FINBE) carried out the placement of short-term market securities (certificados bursátiles de corto plazo) for MXN $600.00 million on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) through Actinver Casa de Bolsa, Casa de Bolsa Banorte and Intercam Casa de Bolsa.

Start Banregio (MEX: START) carried out the placement of short-term market securities (certificados bursátiles de corto plazo) for MXN $870.00 million on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) through Actinver Casa de Bolsa.

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior (MEX: BLADEX) carried out the placement of short-term market securities (certificados bursátiles de corto plazo) for MXN $181.81 million on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) through Casa de Bolsa BBVA México.

Navistar Financial (MEX: NAVISTS) carried out the placement of short-term market securities (certificados bursátiles de corto plazo) for MXN $51.00 million on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) through Casa de Bolsa BBVA México and Scotia Inverlat Casa de Bolsa.

Toyota Financial Services México (MEX: TOYOTA) carried out the placement of short-term market securities (certificados bursátiles de corto plazo) for MXN $200.00 million on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) through Casa de Bolsa BBVA México and Scotia Inverlat Casa de Bolsa.

Volkswagen Leasing (MEX: VWLEASE) carried out the placement of short-term market securities (certificados bursátiles de corto plazo) for MXN $900.00 million on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) through Casa de Bolsa BBVA México and Scotia Inverlat Casa de Bolsa.

Arrendadora Actinver (MEX: ARREACT) carried out the placement of short-term market securities (certificados bursátiles de corto plazo) for MXN $770.00 million on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) through Actinver Casa de Bolsa.

Paccar Financial México (MEX: PCARFM) carried out the placement of short-term market securities (certificados bursátiles) for MXN $342.00 million on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) through Scotia Inverlat Casa de Bolsa.

Ford Credit de México (MEX: FORD) carried out the placement of short-term market securities (certificados bursátiles) for MXN $600.00 million on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) through Scotia Inverlat Casa de Bolsa and Casa de Bolsa Banorte.

GM Financial de México (MEX: GMFIN) carried out the placement of short-term market securities (certificados bursátiles) for MXN $800.00 million and long-term market securities for MXN $2,000.00 million on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) through Scotia Inverlat Casa de Bolsa and Casa de Bolsa Banorte.

NR Finance México (MEX: NRF) carried out the placement of short-term market securities (certificados bursátiles) for MXN $100.00 million on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) through Casa de Bolsa BBVA México and Scotia Inverlat Casa de Bolsa.

BBVA México (MEX: BACOMER) carried out the placement of structured bank bonds for MXN $2,000.00 million on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) through Casa de Bolsa BBVA México.

Factoring Corporativo (MEX: FACTOR) carried out the placement of short-term market securities (certificados bursátiles) for MXN $165.54 million on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) through Vector Casa de Bolsa.

Grupo Carso (MEX: GCARSO) carried out the placement of short-term market securities (certificados bursátiles) for MXN $6,000.00 million on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) through Inbursa Casa de Bolsa.

América Móvil (MEX: AMX) carried out the placement of short-term market securities (certificados bursátiles) for MXN $200.00 million on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) through Casa de Bolsa BBVA México, HSBC Casa de Bolsa and Scotia Inverlat Casa de Bolsa.

Grupo Elektra (BIVA: ELEKTRA) completed the placement of long-term market securities (certificados bursátiles) for MXN $2,500.00 million on the Bolsa Institucional de Valores (BIVA) through Actinver Casa de Bolsa, Punto Casa de Bolsa and Intercam Casa de Bolsa.

Total Play Telecomunicaciones (BIVA: TPLAY) completed the placement of short-term market securities (certificados bursátiles) for MXN $1,000.00 million on the Bolsa Institucional de Valores (BIVA) through Actinver Casa de Bolsa, Punto Casa de Bolsa and Intercam Casa de Bolsa.

Mexico's Corporación Inmobiliaria Vesta (MEX: VESTA), a real-estate company dedicated to the development and leasing of industrial buildings and distribution centers in Mexico, completed the raising of USD $1,490.00 million in its initial public offering (IPO) on the NYSE under the ticker VTMX.

Mexico's Koprimo, a raw-materials trader based in Mexico City, inaugurated its new distribution center in Toluca, Estado de México, with an investment of MXN $15.00 million.

Mexico's Grupo La Comer, operator of a nationwide supermarket chain based in Mexico City, opened its ninth store in Juriquilla, Querétaro, with an investment of MXN $809.00 million.

Mexico's Morita Play, a new streaming platform aimed at promoting original content creators in Mexico, was launched into the Mexican market with an investment in excess of MXN $5.00 million.

Mexico's iad México (formerly Neximo), a digital real-estate firm composed of a network of independent real-estate advisors, launched its new free mobile application, Properties by iad. The app enables buyers or sellers of real estate to connect with an advisor from iad's roster of professionals.

Mexico's Alsea, a multinational franchise-restaurant operator based in Mexico City, announced an investment of MXN $550.00 million for the opening of up to 100 new pizzerias in Mexico in 2024.

U.S.-based Wendy's, a fast-food restaurant multinational based in Ohio, opened its first branch in Mérida, Yucatán, in partnership with Mexico's franchise operator ABMO Operadora. The company plans to open a total of 12 restaurants in Mexico by 2028.

Mexico's BlackBox Startup Law, a startup-focused law firm based in Mexico City, entered into an alliance with Brazil's Advocacia Rodrigues do Amaral, with the objective of establishing a multinational advisory practice specializing in startups operating in Mexico and Brazil.

The Mexican government issued a decree for the temporary takeover of a hydrogen plant operated by France's Air Liquide (EPA: AI) within the refinery owned by state-owned oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (MEX: PEMEX), based in Tula, Hidalgo. The decree establishes that the plant must be taken over by Pemex TRI, the industrial arm of Pemex.