Mexico's Foreign Investment Jumps 28% in First Half on Heineken Purchase
Mexico received $12.2 billion in foreign direct investment in the first six months of this year, a 28 percent increase from last year.
Foreign direct investment for the second quarter was $7.36 billion, a 34 percent gain from the same quarter last year, the Economy Ministry said today in an e-mailed statement.
The increase likely resulted from Heineken NA’s purchase of the beer unit of Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB that closed on April 30, said Delia Paredes, a Mexico City-based economist with Santander SA. Heineken paid about $5.2 billion in shares and assumed $2.1 billion of debt.
“Even taking this transaction out, we’re seeing the trend that we expected of a recovery of foreign direct investment,” Paredes said.
Mexico attracted $14 billion of foreign direct investment for all of last year, the ministry said, a decline from $23.2 billion in 2008 as a global recession caused companies to delay projects. Paredes forecasts foreign direct investment of about $16 billion this year, not including the Heineken purchase.
During the first half of the year, investment from the Netherlands, where Heineken is based, was $7 billion, followed by $3.51 billion from the U.S. and $960 million from Spain, the ministry said.
Foreign direct investment totaled $13.6 billion in the first half of 2008.
To contact the reporters on this story: Jens Gould in Mexico City at jgould9@bloomberg.net; Thomas Black in Monterrey at tblack@bloomberg.net
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