Mexico’s Geo expands land-purchashing program
Mexican homebuilder Geo said it added $100 million for land purchases as part of a deal with PREI, a real estate business of Prudential Financial, that takes advantage of the housing boom in the country.
The original goal of both companies was to invest $180 million.
“Due to high demand demonstrated by investors towards such an attractive opportunity, Phase II (of the venture) will now consist of a total of $280 million that will be invested in the purchase of strategic plots and land,” Geo said on Wednesday.
More: today.reuters.com
Mexico's Geo expands land-purchashing program
Mexican homebuilder Geo said it added $100 million for land purchases as part of a deal with PREI, a real estate business of Prudential Financial, that takes advantage of the housing boom in the country.
The original goal of both companies was to invest $180 million.
"Due to high demand demonstrated by investors towards such an attractive opportunity, Phase II (of the venture) will now consist of a total of $280 million that will be invested in the purchase of strategic plots and land," Geo said on Wednesday.
More: today.reuters.com
UPDATE 1-Mexico's Geo 3rd-qtr net profit rises 32 pct
Geo, Mexico's No. 1 home builder, posted a 32 percent rise in third-quarter net profit from a sales surge during a nationwide housing boom.
Geo (GEOB.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday net profit in the July-September period was 267 million pesos ($25 million) as revenues rose 24 percent.
Revenues at Geo jumped to 2.657 billion pesos as the company sold 9,624 houses in the period, up from 8,600 homes in the same quarter a year earlier.
Geo said its core earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 31 percent to 641 million pesos.
"For
Bradesco, Petrobras, Grupo Mexico, Geo: Latin Equity Preview
Mexico's largest homebuilder by market value is the best performer in the country's benchmark stock index this year to date, with a 66 percent gain. The shares fell 10 centavos, or 0.3 percent, to 36.90 pesos yesterday.
America Movil SA (AMXL MM): Latin America's largest mobile- phone company have gained 63 percent this year, the second-best performance on the Mexican stock index after Geo. The shares fell 3 centavos, or 0.2 percent, to 15.86 pesos yesterday.
Grupo Mexico SA (GMEXICOB MM): Copper, Grupo Mexico's main product, rose to a record 41,970 yuan
Mexico Bolsa Rises on Economy, Led by Corp. Geo: Latin Stocks
Mexican stocks rose and headed for a fifth straight weekly gain, led by homebuilder Corporacion GEO SA, as the government reported that the economy expanded faster than economists estimated in the third quarter.
The Bolsa index of the most-traded stocks in Mexico City rose 90.05, or 0.6 percent, to 16,545.44, a record. The index gained 2.5 percent for the week. Elsewhere in Latin America, Brazil's Bovespa was little changed today, rising 15.37, or less than 0.1 percent, to 31,102.37, for a 2 percent gain in the week.
The Bolsa
Mexico assails US border fence immigration bill
A bill moving through the U.S. Congress that demands security fencing with lights and cameras be built along the Mexico-U.S. border will not stop the flood of illegal immigrants, Mexico said Friday.
The House of Representatives voted 260-159 late Thursday to require the high-tech fencing along parts of the U.S. border, while seemingly moving away from a White House plan for immigration reform that includes a guest worker program and is backed by Mexico.
Mexican presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar said Mexico would keep pushing for a comprehensive immigration reform that expands temporary worker programs.
"An immigration reform
Alcan acquires packaging plant in Monterrey, Mexico; price not disclosed
Alcan Inc. has acquired a 250-employee packaging business in northern Mexico as the Montreal-headquartered company expands in the Mexican market.
Alcan said Tuesday it paid an undisclosed price for the packaging assets of Recubrimientos y Laminaciones de Papel, S.A. de C.V., also known as Relapasa, of Monterrey, Mexico.
The acquisition of Relapasa, with 2005 sales of about $22 million US, expands Alcan Packaging Mexico to 1,250 employees at three plants.
"The Monterrey site will provide an expanded manufacturing platform to accelerate Alcan's food and specialty flexible packaging growth in the Mexican
Rita shuts down oil production in Gulf of Mexico
The impending strike of Hurricane Rita on the Texas coast poses as much of a risk to chemical output as it does to oil production and refining, analysts say, threatening shortages of key chemicals in coming days and weeks.
An estimated 72 percent of all U.S. production capacity for ethylene was in the strike area of Rita.
"About 72 percent of U.S. ethylene capacity is in the risk area, while 26 percent of U.S. refinery capacity is there," said an analyst .
The devastating effects of Katrina on the Gulf of Mexico also pushed natural
U.S. flights to Mexico fail to cut migrant deaths
A U.S. government program that returns illegal immigrants to Mexico by flying them deep into the country is ineffective at reducing the number of deaths in the Arizona desert, analysts said on Wednesday.
The Interior Repatriation Program of daily charter flights from Tucson to Mexico City and Guadalajara was implemented in 2004 to cut deaths in the summer months.
Instead of dropping the migrants near the border as is usually done, the program flies them hundreds of miles inside Mexico. The idea was to deter migrants from immediately reattempting to cross the border via
US resumes repatriation flights for illegal immigrants from Mexico
The US Department of Homeland Security [official website] resumed its repatriation program [JURIST report; DHS backgrounder] for illegal immigrants from Mexico Friday with a flight carrying 67 people to Mexico City. This is the third straight summer that the federal government has used the program, which twice daily flies Mexicans caught illegally crossing the US-Mexico border to Mexico City and then buses them to their home communities. It specifically targets women, children, and those deemed at physical risk if they tried to cross the border again.
The US government hopes that the
$1 billion guaranteed for projects in Mexico
The U.S. Export-Import Bank has approved $1 billion in long-term loan guarantees for U.S. companies providing equipment and services to Petróleos Mexicanos, Mexico's state-owned oil company.
The three loans are for oil and natural gas exploration, development and production in Mexico, and they will involve nearly 300 U.S. companies, many of which are in Texas.
A $300 million loan guarantee will finance U.S. companies working on the Strategic Gas Program, which aims to help meet Mexico's increasing demand for natural gas. Offshore Drilling Co. and Noble Mexico, both of Houston, and Sugar Land-based Noble Campeche are
