DISTINGUISHED GATHERING AT THE SISTINE CHAPEL (EL UNIVERSAL 1-32-35) The replica of the Sistine Chapel at Plaza de la República, Mexico City served as the backdrop for a dinner attended by senior executives, political leaders, and special guests at the opening of the Banorte Strategy Forum 2016… Once attendees were seated, the evening’s host, Carlos Hank González, stood up to welcome the leaders who had gathered there, which included the President of the Mexican Senate, Roberto Gil Zuarth, and the former President of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Óscar Arias. Hank González took the opportunity to wish a happy birthday to his uncle Juan Antonio González Moreno, Chairman of the Board of Directors of GRUMA…

BUNGE AGREES TO MINSA BUYOUT (EL ECONOMISTA 28) (EL FINANCIERO 20) (EL NORTE (ON LINE) 0) US multinational Bunge will challenge Gruma in the US and Mexican corn flour markets after its purchase of a controlling stake in Grupo Minsa, which will be delisted from the Mexican Stock Exchange...

ANALYSTS UPGRADE GRUMA’S PRICE TARGET (EL ECONOMISTA 3) Analysts at Signum Research have upgraded the price target of the world’s largest corn flour producer for the next 12 months, with a price target of MXN 318. Its shares are currently quoted on the Mexican Stock Exchange at MXN 250.62, meaning the new target price represents a potential increase of 27%...

TRENDS  (EL ECONOMISTA 7) GRUMA. Analysts have upgraded the price target of the corn flour producer’s stock for the next 12 months to MXN 318.

JESÚS RANGEL/TUG-OF-WAR (MILENIO DIARIO 22) Naturally, Artes de México has now published “Seeds of Identity” with the support of Gruma, which details the 31 foods that Mexico gave to the world, including avocado, amaranth, beans, cactus, chayote, chia, chili, cocoa, corn, jicama, maguey, mamey, peanuts, pumpkin, sapote, soursop, sweet potato, tomato, turkey, vanilla and wormseed.

LOURDES MENDOZA/BUSINESS AND PLEASURE (REFORMA 99) Regarding the Strategy Forum 2016 dinner event hosted by Banorte, let me say first of all that the strength and breadth of guests pulled in by Banorte, spearheaded by Carlos Hank González and Marcos Ramírez, is quite impressive… Needless to say, the event was attended by Carlos’s father Carlos Hank Rhon, his sister Graciela alongside her husband Alberto Bitar, as well as their uncle Juan González, chairman of Gruma, who was celebrating his birthday at the dinner. Roberto González (1930-2012) is sure be looking down on his family and his business (Banorte y Gruma) in peace and contentment, assured that his succession is in safe and capable hands...

IN CHINA THEY EAT “PAN BIMBO” TOO: NINE INTERNATIONAL COMPANIES THAT ARE 100% MEXICAN (EL PAÍS EN LÍNEA (ESPAÑA) 0) Gruma’s Mexican corn product and salsa brand, Delicados, has been sold in Russia since 2011. Taken from Gruma’s website. The name itself might not mean much to you, but you are sure to know its star product: Maseca. Ever since it was founded in the 1950s, Gruma has been the largest producer of nixtamalized corn flour, the raw material present in Mexican tortillas. The company sells packaged corn and flour tortillas, such as its Mission brand products, which are also sold in the United States. Gruma operates in 112 countries, including Malaysia, Russia, and Turkey.

CARLOS DE ICAZA/MEXICO: CLOSER TO ASIA-PACIFIC (EXCÉLSIOR 18) On the international stage, the countries of Southeast Asia and the South Pacific are becoming ever-more important partners for Mexico... President Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration has embarked on an unprecedented policy of engagement and integration with the region. As part of this endeavor, I was instructed by the Secretary of Foreign Relations, Claudia Ruiz Massieu, to take a tour of Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia... These five countries are increasingly catching the eye of Mexican entrepreneurs. Notable investments are being made in Australia by leading companies such as Gruma…

GRUMA ASPIRES TO PRODUCE FLOUR PRODUCTS FOR ARAB SHEIKHS (FORBES.COM) Juan González Moreno, Chairman and CEO of Gruma, brings Mexican food in the form of corn and wheat flour products, which feature on the menus of fast-food chains in Arab countries, to a market where it intends to open a plant in the medium term. Wherever the company goes, they export their technology, introduce a tortilla-based Mexican diet, and adapt to the local wheat-based diets, says the Mexican businessman. “Other flatbreads are made abroad, such as the Arab, Greek, Lebanese and Indian varieties, as well as pizza bases and chapatti,” he told Forbes Mexico. The company has always sought to bring the real taste of Mexico to all corners of the globe.

—Are you interested in spreading to the UAE and Dubai?

—Yes, we are, and we already have fast-food customers there. We are currently importing the product there from Asia, and we will be implementing our next growth stage in the medium term.

—How satisfying is it to have your tortillas being sold to Asian customers and Sheiks?

—We are a company that exports Mexican cuisine, and so we are trying to change consumption habits around the world.

—What is your opinion of the Mexican taco prepared by Donald Trump?

—Clearly, he’s taken to eating Mexican tacos. The formula might be his own, but that’s what we want people to adopt: the habit of eating tortillas.

FIVE 100%-MEXICAN COMPANIES OF INTERNATIONAL RENOWN (SAN DIEGO RED ONLINE 0) Many of the products we consume come from abroad, including some of those we perceive as being purely Mexican, as is the case with the popular potato chips brand Sabritas… 2. Gruma: This company’s star product is Maseca. Ever since it was founded in the 1950s, Gruma has been the largest producer of corn flour in Mexico. The company sells corn and flour tortillas through its Mission brand products, which are also sold in 112 countries including the United States, Russia, Turkey and Malaysia...

ALL EYES CONTINUE TO LOOK ABROAD (AMÉRICAECONOMÍA 32-38) One of the advantages of being a “multi-Latin” company used to be that it ensured quicker growth than other companies operating in the region. Between 2002 and 2013, for instance, the number of multi-Latin companies ranked among the 500 Biggest Latin American Companies increased nine-fold, whereas the number of non-multi-Latin countries only increased two-and-a-half-fold. However, in the Multi-Latin Rankings 2016 outlined below, this privileged status is now being called into question...Gruma climbs two places in the Multi-Latin Rankings 2016 to 5th, having placed 7th in the 2015 edition.

TAMING THE DRAGON (EXPANSIÓN 32) Every day, around 40 bicycles, each towing a trailer with a lit-up white bear on the sides, wind their way through the hutongs of Beijing’s historical districts. This strategy was designed by Bimbo - or Binbao, as the Chinese call it - to make sure that its foods arrive fresh to its consumers in central Beijing. Besides Bimbo, there are only a handful of similar examples: Gruma, which produces tortillas for sale in local supermarkets, and which has supplied McDonald’s and KFC...

TRENDS  (EL ECONOMISTA p.7) GRUMA. Gruma’s shares held up during a week when stocks were generally in decline. The share price of the company led by Juan González Moreno was up by 3.08%, closing the week ending September 15 at MXN 252.72. Gruma’s outlook from now until the end of the year is one of growth. Analysts expect its sales to increase by 2%, and for its EBITDA to grow by 17%... Specialists also reiterated their recommendation to buy, due to the expected positive performance of Gruma’s shares during the coming year.

FORECAST OF THE IMPACT ON COMPANIES (EXCÉLSIOR 1-9) The rise in the dollar is exerting increased pressure on Mexican companies, particularly those with debts stated in US dollars... According to José Antonio Cebeira, an analyst at Actinver, the consumption companies Gruma, Bimbo and Bachoco will not be significantly affected by the dollar due to their operations in the United States.

DAVID ENGEL/DOWN UNDER (EXCÉLSIOR 2) Australia and Mexico have many things in common, and the agricultural sector is one area where their commonality is significant… Australia has also benefitted from Mexican investment. For instance, in my home country Gruma operates a large-scale plant which supplies the Australian market and several countries in Asia…

STRONG DOLLAR IMPROVES OUTLOOK FOR GRUMA, LED BY JUAN GONZÁLEZ MORENO (MILENIO DIARIO DE MONTERREY) The depreciation of the Mexican peso against the dollar isn't all bad news for some issuers on the Mexican Stock Exchange, with their outlook improving as the US dollar becomes more expensive. A case in point is Gruma, the world's leading corn flour and tortilla producer, according to analysts from several financial groups. Gruma, they explained, receives 74.3% of its income from its overseas operations, which as well as meaning a beneficial rate of currency exchange, also means a better profit outlook and greater demand for shares on the Mexican Stock Exchange, which in turn causes its share price to increase.

MEXICO'S 100 TOP BUSINESS LEADERS/JUAN ANTONIO GONZÁLEZ MORENO "THE SUCCESSFUL SUCCESSOR" (EXPANSIÓN) On the list of Mexico's 100 top business leaders published by Expansión magazine, Juan González Moreno, Chairman and CEO of Gruma, features in 22nd place. Juan Antonio González Moreno assumed the leadership of the world's largest corn flour producer in 2012 following the death of his father Roberto González Berrera, who founded Gruma and acquired Grupo Financiero Banorte. His management of the firm has been lauded by investors during the past five years, with the company's shares on the Mexican Stock Exchange increasing 12-fold. He has also proven himself capable of maintaining growth; this year he announced the investment of USD 350 million into maintaining and expanding the production capacity of the company’s plants, as well as building new plants and implementing general technological improvements.

ARMELIA REYES/EMMA OCHOA/OUTLOOKS WITH SIGNUM RESEARCH (EL ECONOMISTA 6) We paid a visit to Monterrey, where we met up with the management teams of several companies to learn about their short and medium-term business outlooks. We convened with the management of Gruma, which expects the EBITDA of its US operations (its leading division) to expand by 100 basis points this year following the streamlining of its product portfolio and lower input prices, with volume remaining unchanged. On the other hand, Gimsa is expecting a contraction of 150 basis points due to higher advertising costs and an impact from the exchange rate. This will partly be balanced out by greater sales (+5-6%) and exchange hedges in the price of corn. The company anticipates stable margins in Central America and Europe…