Image attributed to businessman Germán Larrea.
Controversy regarding various accidents at his mines surrounds businessman Germán Larrea
It is not easy to find a picture of Germán Larrea, Mexico’s
most elusive billionaire. Perhaps he is the man in one of the two
photographs circulating on the internet. A man in his 50s appears in a
black-and-white picture that looks like a photograph taken for an ID
card. He has a stout nose and thick hair covering his ears. The other
picture shows an older man with an aquiline nose, small eyes and a bald
patch on the right side of his head. “I can’t say which one is him and
which isn’t,” says a PR professional who swears he has seen Larrea a few
times. Forbes magazine has avoided this kind of trouble. The
publication profiles the Mexican billionaire with the black silhouette
used in class graduation photographs for shy students who will not be
attending the ceremony.
Larrea is worth $14.7 billion and he is the majority shareholder in the powerful Grupo México,
one of the largest copper producers worldwide. But his empire is under
suspicion again for causing an environmental crisis. The government has
forced the company to create a $150 million trust fund to make up for
damage to millions of small farmers after 40,000 cubic meters of toxic
waste spilled into the Bacanuchi and Sonora Rivers in northern Mexico.
Analysts and political commentators have even called for the closure of
the company, which has been involved in several other tragedies
including the death of 65 miners in 2006.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the most popular leftist
leader in the country, has called on the government to cancel mining
concessions made to the company. “It is part of that power mafia,” he
said.
The union has been fighting with this invisible millionaire
over this issue, among others, for years. For a long time, miners left a
poster that read “Murderer” on the side of Paseo de la Reforma, one of
the city’s most emblematic streets. Larrea did not defend himself
publicly. He never has.
Still, others admire the King of Copper. The expert mining
analyst Mauricio Candiani knows the details of Grupo México’s operations
– annual results, locations of mines, international market – but he
would not recognize Germán Larrea if he passed him on the street.
“Operations at Buenavista mine [where the spill happened] are at an
international level. It’s the largest copper plant in Mexico. It’s
essential to the development of our country. It’s a very solid company
and it will pay for the damage and resume the work,” he says. Candiani
has worked on a few projects with the company in the past.
Larrea is introspective but his
right-hand man is expansive and diplomatic. When Larrea says no in a
negotiation, García de Quevedo says maybe
Larrea’s face is blurry. Xabier García de Quevedo, who is
in charge of operations in Peru, has the millionaire’s ear. García de
Quevedo was recently honored by the Mexican association of engineers and
geologists at University Club, one of the country’s most exclusive
clubs. Larrea is introspective but his right-hand man is expansive and
diplomatic. When Larrea says no in a negotiation, García de Quevedo says
maybe. He is the friendly face of a company that has at times been seen
as a bully. Since 1988, García de Quevedo has worked with Larrea and he
compares the millionaire’s family to the Pujol clan in Spain. In 2012,
one of his daughters married Jordi Pujol Ferrusola, the eldest son of
Catalonia’s former premier, who is currently under investigation for
money laundering and tax fraud.
Jorge Larrea, Germán’s father, built the family fortune 70
years ago. He opened a small construction company and gradually branched
out into other sectors, such as energy. In the 1970s, the business
bought its first mines and stuck to that strategy, taking advantage of
ex-president Carlos Salinas de Gortari’s plan to offer mining
concessions to domestic companies. Such were the beginnings of an empire
that has reached the top, despite never being far from controversy.
In 1999, Grupo México acquired the American mine Asarco
when it was facing a $1-billion fine for pollution. Asarco was
transferred to a Peruvian subsidiary and the company subsequently
declared in bankruptcy. There were not enough funds to pay investors.
One of his daughters married Jordi Pujol
Ferrusola, the eldest son of Catalonia’s former premier, who is
currently under investigation for money laundering and tax fraud
Past and present lawsuits have not stopped Larrea. Business
reporters have been speculating about whether he will invest in the oil
industry once Peña Nieto’s reforms to open up the energy sector go into
effect. Oil is just one of many open fronts. The man who does not want
to be photographed or seen on television is on the board of directors at
Televisa, Latin America’s most powerful radio-TV network. He has also
bought a chain of movie theatres, Cinemex. Every time one goes to see a
movie, he must first watch the long advertisements about Larrea’s
railroad empire and his philanthropic efforts with which he hopes to
change his bad reputation.
Larrea’s proverbial enemy is a man who bears the name of an
emperor: Napoleón Gómez Urrutia. The tragic incident at Pasta de
Conchos mine where tens of workers died pitted the two men against each
other forever. Gómez Urrutia, like Larrea, took over his father’s work.
As leader of the mining union, he called for a strike that lasted
several years. Legal battles between Gómez Urrutia and Larrea have
reached epic proportions. “It is one of the most costly business
disputes in the world,” Candiani says.
Meanwhile, Gómez Urrutia has been in exile in Canada,
running from the law after he allegedly embezzled $55 million. The union
leader claims the case is a witch hunt that Larrea instigated. And,
Gómez Urrutia has never left his post. He was leading the union from
abroad.
Larrea is well respected in certain business circles. He is
seen as a serious and even friendly man. He takes advantage of his
anonymity to bet at the racetrack, dine quietly at the best restaurants
in the city and travel to Tuscany. They say he likes expensive wine and,
although this information appears in every profile as if it were an
absolute truth, no one will confirm it. People around him usually do not
confirm or deny anything about him, which only deepens the mystery.
The invisible tycoon does not need the spotlight in order to keep growing his fortune
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