Monterrey-based glassmaker Vitro, S.A.B. (NYSE: VTO) has named Hugo Lara as its new CEO (Director General) following the surprise resignation of Federico Sada Gonzalez on November 6, 2008, according to a Sentido Comun report.  Sada, who led Vitro for 14 years and who is the grandson of Vitro’s founder and son of Adrian Sada Trevino, who led the company from 1972-1991, remains a member of its board of directors.

Lara worked at Vitro for five years before being named CEO; before joining Vitro, he was CEO of Parmalat’s Mexico operations.

Vitro CEO Federico Sada Gonzalez has resigned effective November 6, 2008, according to a Debtwire.com report, which cited a company statement issued internally and leaked to the press.  In the statement, the report said, Mr. Sada Gonzalez indicated that his reason for resigning was that ”the interests of the company are ahead of my personal interests.”

The Debtwire report quoted undisclosed source who said that Vitro “is much more in play now” than it was last week and that a petition for bankruptcy protection (concurso mercantil) could be an option if the company’s liquidity situation worsens.

The report said that Federico Sada Gonzalez’s older brother, Adrian Sada Gonzalez, who is currently Vitro’s chairman, would likely assume the interim CEO role.

Monterrey-based Vitro, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE: VTO), starved for cash after reporting losses of approximately US$227 million from derivatives on natural gas, the Mexican peso, and interest rates, has entered into a transaction with Mexican development bank Banco Nacional de Comercio Exterior (Bancomext) in which Vitro transferred the land on which its Monterrey corporate headquarters is located and a building in Tlanepantla to a Mexican trust (fideicomiso) in exchange for an initial payment of US$100 million, according a report in El Financiero. (The trust is probably structured as a fideicomiso de garantia, which is commonly used in secured financing transactions in Mexico.)

The company, which is led by Federico Sada Gonzalez, acknowledged for the first time that it is not in full compliance with its agreements with creditors and that negotiations with creditors are ongoing, a separate El Financiero report said. It also announced that it has contracted private equity firm The Blacksone Group, L.P. (NYSE: BX) to assist with its negotiations with creditors.

Vitro’s director of finance, Enrique Osorio, as quoted in El Financiero, said “with this transaction and the support of The Blackstone Group, and the other measures that we are taking to minimize the effects of the global financial situation, we are demonstrating with facts that the rumors generated by the market in relation to Vitro are not true and we continue working and operating normally to achieve the objectives that we have proposed to acheive for 2008 and the future”.

Mr. Osorio was responding to the comments of certain analysts, who have speculated that Vitro could be forced to file for creditor protection (concurso mercantil) under Mexican law. Whether the US$100 million cash infusion will enable the company to postpone or prevent such an outcome is an open question. Were Vitro to file bankruptcy in Mexico, creditors of Binswanger Glass, a subsidiary of Vitro and the largest glass retailer in the U.S., could be adversely affected.

In late October, Standard & Poor’s Rating Services downgraded Vitro’s long-term credit rating to B- from B on a Global Scale and to MXBB+ from MXBBB- on a National Scale, raising the company’s cost of credit in an already illinquid market.

Monterrey-based glassmaker Vitro, S.A. (NYSE: VTO) may be forced to file for bankruptcy protection (concurso mercantil) in Mexico because of derivative losses in natural gas, according to a Bloomberg report.

The report said that Vitro’s Binswanger Glass unit is the biggest glass-retailer in the U.S., with more than 100 stores in 22 states.

On September 29, 2009, the U.S. Commercial Service released a market research report on the market for industrial chemicals in Monterrey.  A copy is available here.

The U.S. Commercial Services released a report on October 9, 2008 regarding the market for sales of agricultural chemicals in Chihuahua.  A copy is availaber here.

LyondellBasell Industries AF S.C.A. announced plans to open a new polypropelyne (PP) compounding facility in Altamira (Tamaulipas), Mexico, according to a report in The Earth Times today.  LyondellBasell is one of the leading global producers of PP compounded products and supplies for the automotive, appliance, electrical and electronics industries. The Altamira plant will supply PP to automotive and appliance manufacturing plants near Altamira.

LyondellBasell is headquarted in The Netherlands and is privately held by Access Industries, a conglomerate with holdings in the natural resources, chemicals, media and telecommunications, and real estate sectors.  Access Industries was founded by Len Blavatnik, a Russian-born Jewish-American industrialist, who is currently its Chairman and President. 

The expansion of U.S. and other international businesses into Mexico continued its rapid pace in the fourth quarter of 2007 and first and second quarters of 2008, including moves by:

• Honda Aircraft Company, Inc. (Greensboro, NC; light aircraft), which opened a retail sales and service outlet at Mexico City’s Toluca International Airport for HondaJet light aircraft through a joint venture with Servicios Aéreos Estrella, S.A. de C.V. (Press release here);
• Aquentium, Inc. (Palm Springs, CA; food safety, low income & disaster relief housing, energy, automotive and recycling), which formed a Mexican subsidiary, Aquentium de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. to provide low-cost and prefabricated housing (Press release here);
• Tata Consultancy Services (India; information technology), which expanded its Global Delivery Center in Guadalajara to provide IT consulting services (Press release here);
• GW Plastics (Bethel, VT; plastics), which expanded its Querétaro Mexico plant (Press release here);
• InterContinental Hotels Group, which opened its first Hotel Indigo brand hotel in a historic 100-year old hacienda in Merida (a second hotel will open in Mexico City in 2009);
• Wendy’s International, Inc. (Dublin, OH; burgers), which entered into two development agreements with two franchisees to open more than 60 Wendy’s restaurants in Monterrey and Mexico City (the existing Wendy’s Mexican franchisee, Wenco-Mexico, S.A., currently operates 12 restaurants in the northern Mexico cities of Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua) (Press release here); and
• BIAS Corporation (Atlanta, GA; Oracle systems integration and resale), which opened a Mexico city office to provide consulting service, IT staffing, and Oracle software sales.