Mexico City - Juan Francisco Beckmann Vidal and Juan
Domingo Beckmann - the heirs to the family that controls tequila giant
Jose Cuervo - saw their net worth soar a
day after the company carried out Mexico’s biggest IPO in more than three
years.
Their combined wealth now totals about $5.9 billion,
compared with Bloomberg’s estimate of $3.4 billion prior to the share sale. The
surge also reflects a jump in Cuervo’s stock price of as much as 8.8
percent on Thursday, the day after the world’s biggest tequila maker sold
about $790 million of shares. The distiller’s $6.3 billion valuation would
make it one of the 20 biggest companies on Mexico’s benchmark stock gauge if it
were on the index.
The Beckmanns have capitalized on investors’ bullish view
of the Mexico City-based company despite growing tensions over trade between
Mexico and the U.S. in the wake of President Donald Trump’s election. Cuervo
has been able to overcome concerns about a possible border tax and a weakening
Mexican currency because it gets more than 60 percent of its revenue from the
US and Canada while the bulk of its costs are in pesos.
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“It’s such an iconic company and has such a dominant
market share especially in tequila,” said Bradford Jones, who manages the Latin
American Opportunities Fund at Sagil Capital in London and bought Cuervo shares
during the initial public offering. “People recognize the risks in potential
border taxes and other measures, but they expect Jose Cuervo will be able to
avoid some of that.”
The IPO, which is said to have been 8 times
oversubscribed, leaves the Beckmanns with an 86.7 percent stake in Cuervo
excluding green-shoe options, according to the offering prospectus. Their net
worth also includes some Chicago real estate holdings and an investment
portfolio, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Chairman Juan Francisco is the
father of Cuervo CEO Juan Domingo, and their family has run the company
for 250 years.