Mexican mogul Slim ramps up oil bets
Carlos Slim, Latin America’s wealthiest man, is boosting oil and gas bets through stakes he holds in U.S. energy firms and increasing his exposure in Mexico, where he partners with state-run giant Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) on several projects.
In June alone, his family holding Control Empresarial de Capitales SA bought PBF Energy Inc. on 13 different days, scooping up 2.5 million shares for about US$113 million, according to regulatory filings. He’s now the largest shareholder of the Parsippany, N.j.-based refiner with a stake of 14.7 per cent, up from 10.2 per cent at yearend.
It’s a reversal for Slim, who unloaded shares of the firm in 2022 after a pandemic-fuelled rally.
“It’s a great company,” Slim said during a rare three-hour press conference in Mexico City in February. “We like the sector because it connects production, refining and you’re close to petrochemicals as well.”
The 84-year-old mogul, who made the bulk of his fortune through telecom firm America Movil SAB, has also ramped up purchases of shares of Talos Energy Inc., a Houston-based exploration and production company with fields in Mexico.
Slim’s family holding bought the most Talos shares in an offering in January and has kept adding through March, May and now June with a 20.6 per cent position in the firm. The billionaire had already acquired a significant stake in the firm’s Mexican subsidiary, which is co-developing one of the country’s most promising oilfields in years with Pemex.
“We’re getting into oil,” he said at the February press conference. “Investing in Talos is because we want to be partners with someone with experience. Not just in Mexico, but also in the Gulf.”
All told, Slim has doled out almost US$500 million to purchase shares of the two U.S. companies this year, regulatory filings show.
His Grupo Carso SAB also acquired Mexican oil fields through the acquisition of Petrobal, owned by fellow billionaire family the Bailleres, for about US$530 million. The agreement was announced in December and closed this week.
The political and financial upheaval in Mexico isn’t slowing Slim down. While the market expected Claudia Sheinbaum to win the presidency in a landslide, it wasn’t anticipating her party capturing a near super majority in Congress. That spooked investors, who dumped the Mexican peso, shares and bonds amid concerns that the new administration will pass a swath of constitutional reforms that could erode checks on power and pressure the budget.
The volatility was enough to trim about US$8.6 billion off his overall net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He’s still worth almost US$92 billion.
Slim, who frequently met with outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, hasn’t publicly commented on the election result.
The energy bets add to a busy year for Slim and his family as they also expand interests in Europe and South America.
Earlier this month, U.K. telecom firm BT Group PLC disclosed that Slim had taken a 3.16 per cent stake in the company, while on Monday, America Movil said it will increase its hold over a joint venture for Chile’s Clarovtr to 91 per cent from 50 per cent to settle a standoff with partner Liberty Latin America.
Slim, whose family members have suffered from kidney problems due to a hereditary issue, also boosted his holdings in Prokidney Corp. this month. The Winston-salem, N.c.-based company develops therapies that repair diseased kidneys using a patient’s own cells. The family now owns 25 per cent of the firm.