1. VW has invested USD 1,000 Mio in a new segment of its production facility in Puebla, Mexico in order to start the production of the new mid-size car that will be sold in North America starting 2011.
2. Cemex shareholders approved an equity increase for the company to take place through public offering of new shares before month end.
3. Domestic car sales fell 31% as per August 2009 vs. same period last year; according to the Mexican Automotive Industry Association.
4. The telecommunication industry grew 11% as of August 2009 vs. same period last year; according to the Federal Telecomm Commission.
5. Cable companies reported 256,000 new subscribers on triple play products, causing an adverse effect on traditional phone services providers, such as Axtel, Maxcomm and Telmex.
6. Cemex ADR shares, offered in the NYSE increased its value by 8% due to homebuilders’ confidence increase.
7. The Mexican stock exchange index grew by 1.33 to reach the 30,000 mark, a level not seen since June 2008.
8. Cemex raised USD 1,549 Mio. by issuance of 1,300,000 new shares of which 75% were offered at the NYSE and the rest at the Mexican Stock Exchange.
9. Mexican milk producer Lala bought two regional companies in the US, for approximately USD 500 Mio, official figures were not disclosed. With this acquisition Lala will be able to cover approximately 27 states in the US.
10. FEMSA, the biggest Coca-Cola bottler outside the US, launched its refrigerator line, that is being produced in Queretaro, Mexico. Femsa has experience in this market as the company used to produce refrigerators for their convenience store division.
Economic Highlights:
• The Mexican Central Bank (Banxico) maintained its benchmark rate at 4.25%.
• As of September, 25th the FX rate was 13.52 Pesos per USD. The MXN was practically unchanged since the end of August.
• Inflation in September decreased slightly to 5.08% yoy.
• Mexican oil prices closed September in USD 60.43 per barrel; a 8.15% decrease compared with August.
• International reserves reached USD 76.5 Bn., an increase of USD 3.4 Bn. compared with last month.
• The Country Risk for Mexico improved during September to 212 bps, a 21 bps decrease vs. last month.
• The unemployment rate as of September was 6.28%, representing a 2.13% increase over the last 12 months.
• The Mexican Stock Market closed June at 28,759 units; a 0.55% increase vs. August’s closing. During the first 9 months of the year the Mexican Stock Market has accumulated a gain of 28.51% in MXN and 31.43% in USD.
