Mexican business newspaper El Financiero reported today that Benetton Group SPA, the Italian fashion clothing manufacturer, signed an agreement with Sears México, S.A. de C.V. to develop its brand in Latin America and reduce its dependency on Western European sales.  Benetton plans to open points of sale within Sears México’s retail centers as well as an additional 50 stand-alone retail stores, giving the marque approximately 250 retail outlets in Mexico by the year 2011.

Benneton’s press release described the attractiveness of the Mexican market for the fashion business.  "With its rapid economic growth and young population (60% below 24 years of age), Mexico is considered one of the key markets on the American continent."  The release also announced that Benneton will open a new office in Miami to monitor and manage sales, marketing and distribution for the Latin America region. 

Sears México is controlled by Grupo Carso, which is controlled by Mexican billionaire (and No. 2 on Forbes’ 2008 billionaires list) Carlos Slim Helú.  In addition to Sears México, the companies Slim controls include, among others: Telmex (Mexico fixed line telephony); America Movil (Americas wireless telephony), a few of the subsidiaries of which include Tracfone (U.S. prepaid wireless telephony), Claro (Brazil wireless telephony) and Telcel (Mexico wireless telephony); CompUSA (U.S. personal computers); Banco Inbursa (Mexico commercial and personal banking); and Grupo IDEAL (Latin America infrastructure development). 

It is nearly impossible to do business in Mexico without running into one of Slim’s entities or family members.  Slim appears to have created his own PR website, which contains some great photos and informative commentary.