Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim started buying Citigroup shares last week through his investment vehicle Inbursa, according to a CNBC report.  Inbursa has bought roughly 26 million shares of Citi.

Some analysts have speculated that Citigroup could decide to sell its Banamex bank in Mexico to raise capital for its U.S. operations.  If Banamex is put up for sale, Slim could be a buyer.

An unsourced business column in El Universal said that consumer voucher card business Prestaciones Universales is expected to be sold on November 26, 2008 (today), according to a Debtwire report.  The column said that Mexico-based brokerage house IXE is conducting the sale and noted speculation that Mexican retailers Gigante and Soriana are possible buyers.  The column also speculated that the sale had been “induced” and that IXE rejected participation by possible suitors Efectivale, Accor, and Arrosa.

An earlier Debtwire report said that Grupo Chapa was seeking to acquire all of Prestaciones Universales and that Grupo Chapa’s acquisition goals might contradict the plans of Mexico’s antitrust authorities to divest the monopoly represented by Prestaciones Universales’ current shareholders.  The business, according to Debtwire, is currently owned by a consortium, the members of which are also shareholders of Wal-Mart de Mexico, Soriana, Comercial Mexicana, Chedraui and 7-Eleven’s Mexico-based operation, a joint venture between Grupo Chapa and Dallas, Texas-based 7-Eleven, which has more than 810 stores.

The Bank of New York Mellon has received a license to operate as a bank in Mexico through a new affiliate entity, The Bank of New York Mellon, S.A., Institucion de Banca Multiple, according to a Sentido Comun report. 

The bank said that it will initially offer fiduciary services and custody services to companies that issue debt on Mexican capital markets.  The Bank of New York Mellon has operated a representative office in Mexico since 1995.

An important part of doing business in Mexico is celebrating Mexico’s rich cultural traditions. 

The Mexico Premiere Blog included a nice overview of Mexican Christmas traditions in a post by Flor Hernandez of Frascati, an Italian Restaurant in La Cruz de Hunacaxtle, about 20 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta.  The post is copied in its entirety below:

Christmas or Nativity celebrates the birth of Jesus. In Mexico, Christmas is a religious holiday where the following elements are present.

Posadas

The Posadas are an enactment of the ordeals suffered by St. Joseph and pregnant Virgin Mary looking for a place to spend the night, as they were attending to the census in Bethlehem.

Each family in a neighborhood will schedule a night for the Posada to be held at their home, starting on the 16th of December and finishing on the 24th on Nochebuena (Christmas Eve).

It seems that the Posadas were introduced in New Spain (Mexico) by the Augustinian monks of San Agustin de Acolman, as a way to convert the Indians to the Catholic Religion, back then they used the Pastorelas, that are a type of a theatrical Play with a great touch of humor, where God defeats the Devil, Pastorelas are very popular in Cities like Mexico DF, Queretaro, Guanajuato, and others.

Posadas are a family get-together around food, music, peaceful thoughts and harmony that is very important in this time of the year.

El Ponche con Piquete

For the adults there is Ponche with Piquete (sting) which is a hot beverage or “Punch” made out of seasonal fruits and cinnamon sticks, with a shot of alcoholic spirit.

La Piñata

Piñatas origin seems to be at the XVI century, like Posadas and Pastorelas, Piñatas were a useful tool to convert Indians to the Catholic Religion, the Piñata represents sin that appears to us, in nice shapes and colors, the person that hits it is blindfolded, as we walk through the world “blindfolded” not knowing where evil will arise and tempt us. The Piñata is filled with candy, fruit and toys for the children, that symbolize the blessings and prices given to us by God once we overcome the temptations of evil.

Aguinaldos

Aguinaldos are bags of candy and fruit that are given to the participants of the Posada, it is also by that name, that employers give a Christmas Bonus equivalent to one month of salary to their employees.

Chants for Baby Jesus

Before Christmas dinner, the children in the house, in front of the Nativity set, sing chants for baby Jesus. Then, the members of the family make a wish, followed by hugging each other and expressing all the good wishes kept in the heart for a whole year.

Javier Villareal Teran, Minister of Tourism for the state of Tamaulipas, announced that the state will seek to expand health care options for U.S. and Mexican tourists seeking low-cost, high quality health care, ranging from surgeries to routine medical treatment, according to an El Financiero report.

As health care costs in the U.S. continue their seemingly inexorable rise, Mexico is wll poised to offer lower cost alternatives to financially struggling U.S. consumers.

The Foreign Policy Association Blog issued a good piece on what to expect from Mexico’s new Interior Minister, Fernando Francisco Gomez Mont Urueta, who was appointed following the death of Juan Camilo Mourino after his government plane crashed in Mexico City. 

Gomez Mont is an attorney and member of the ruling National Action Party (PAN). 

The Interior Minister in Mexico has historically been regarded as the second most important politician in the country.

An interesting piece of Quintana Roo island property has been put on the market for US$5,000,000. 

The island, called Cayo Culebra (Snake Key), appears to be privately owned by one Maria Vasquez Rubio, and consists of approximately 89 acres (36 hectares) of island land in the beautiful Mayan Riviera.  The catch is that the only human use of the property permitted is scientific ecological research; the construction of permanent structures is prohibited.

The listing agent is the LandRod Law Firm and Real Estate Office (in Mexico, a law firm is permitted to act as a real estate brokerage and a law firm notwithstanding the potential conflicts), which also has several other nice looking coastal properties listed for sale.

Mexicans spent approximately US$2.5 billion on approximately 197 million bribes (mordidas) in 2007, according to a Transparency Mexico report that was cited in a Excelsior.com article.

U.S. companies with Mexican subsidiaries and Mexican companies that are required to file periodic reports with the SEC (e.g., because they issue American Depositary Shares) should be mindful of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act when making any payment to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or keeping business for or with, or directing business to, any person.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Commitee on Foreign Investment in the United States (known as “CFIUS”) issued final regulations governing national security reviews of foreign investments in U.S. companies on November 14, 2008. 

Only “covered transactions”, generally meaning transactions by or with any foreign investor that could result in control of a U.S. business by a foreign investor, are subject to CFIUS review.

Among the foreign investment transactions that are typically not ”covered transactions” are:

• Investments by a foreign investor in a start-up companies;
• Asset acquisitions if the assets acquired by a foreign investor are not a “U.S. business”; and
• Lending transactions unless a foreign investor acquires financial or governance rights characteristic of an equity investment.

Mexican and other foreign investors should consult with an attorney before making an investment in a U.S. company to determine whether the investment is a “covered transaction” subject to CFIUS review.  Civil penalties of US$250,000 per violation can be levied against investors who violate the regulations.

Cascade Investment, LLC, the investment vehicle owned by Bill Gates, and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, have increased their ownership stakes in Monterrey-based Mexican beverage companies, Coca-Cola FEMSA, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE: KOF) and Fomento Economico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE: FMX), by acquisition of additional American Depository Shares (ADSs). 

According to a Schedule 13D filed with the SEC on August 1, 2008, Cascade Investment and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation respectively owned 857,128 ADSs and 4,561,072 ADSs of FEMSA as of August 1, 2008, representing 3.16% and 16.84% of the company’s Series L Shares. 

And according to a Schedule 13G filed with the SEC on September 5 2008, Cascade Investment and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation respectively owned 20,966,975 ADSs and 747,600 ADSs of Fomento Economico Mexicano as of September 5, 2008.

Cascade also owns 19.7 million shares of Mexican broadcaster Grupo Televisa (NYSE: TV), according to Reuters.