Aramburuzabala's fortune is derived from the sale of her family's stake in Grupo Modelo, the brewer behind Corona beer. The sale to Anheuser-Busch InBev was completed in 2013. The Mexico City-based billionaire manages her wealth through Tresalia, an investment firm she founded with her mother and sister.
The majority of Aramburuzabala's wealth is derived from her family's 2013 sale of their stake in Grupo Modelo, the producer of Corona and Negra Modelo. The sale to Anheuser-Busch InBev was part of a $20 billion transaction. Aramburuzabala, along with her sister Lucrecia, had inherited the stake in Modelo after her father Pablo died in 1995.
Tresalia Capital, a family office she owns with her sister and mother, has invested in companies including clothing designer Tory Burch, data storage provider KIO Networks and broadcasting company Grupo Televisa. The assets of the Mexico City-based company, which doesn't publish consolidated results, are included as part of Aramburuzabala's cash and other assets.
Her cash holdings are also adjusted based on an analysis of dividends, market performance, insider transactions, taxes and charitable contributions.
Aramburuzabala didn't respond to requests for comment on her net worth.
Aramburuzabala was born on May 2, 1963 in Mexico City. Known by friends as Mariasun, she's the granddaughter of Felix Aramburuzabala, one of the founders of the Grupo Modelo brewery. Her father, Pablo Aramburuzabala, was vice president at the beermaker.
She graduated from Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico with a degree in accounting. She had two children with her first husband, Paulo Patricio Zapata Navarro, before a 1997 divorce. In 2005, she married Tony Garza, a U.S. ambassador to Mexico, in a ceremony attended by first lady Laura Bush. The couple divorced in 2010.
After her father died of lung cancer in 1995, Aramburuzabala inherited her stake. She partnered with her mother and sister to guard against groups that were trying to gain control of the family's shares in Modelo. Their firm, Tresalia, began investing in technology, real estate and telecommunications.
In June 2013, the family sold its stake in Modelo for cash as part of a $20 billion acquisition by Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Maria, a mother of two sons, Pablo and Santiago, lives in Mexico.