Mexican billionaire buys 25% Banamex stake in $2.3 billion deal, signaling confidence in Mexico's economy

A day after Citigroup said it would sell a 25% stake in Banamex to Mexican billionaire Fernando Chico Pardo, the investor said his $2.3 billion commitment should be read as a sign of confidence in Mexico’s government and its economic potential. The move aligns with Citi’s broader strategy to pare back its Latin American retail banking footprint, a shift the bank announced in January 2022 as part of a broader restructuring of its global operations.

Citigroup said the sale to Pardo would be completed next year, pending regulatory approvals in Mexico. Chico Pardo said he only entered negotiations about six months ago, and he framed the deal as a necessary step in aligning foreign investment with domestic investment to foster growth in the country. The plan is to eventually take Banamex public with the remainder of the stake, while Pardo would remain the primary shareholder.

Banamex originated as Citigroup’s Mexican retail arm after Citi acquired Banamex in 2001. Under Citi, Banamex grew to become one of Mexico’s largest banking entities, expanding to more than 1,300 branches and serving about 13 million customers. Chico Pardo, 64, is the chairman of the board of ASUR, which operates nine airports in southeast Mexico as well as the main airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and six airports in Colombia. He is also president and chief executive of Promecap, a private equity firm, and he previously founded and led a brokerage.

The transaction comes as Mexico continues to attract foreign investment in its financial sector, even as the government under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has periodically pressed for greater Mexican ownership of strategic assets. In 2022, López Obrador said he would “like this bank to be Mexicanized,” arguing that foreign bankers sometimes take profits abroad rather than reinvest them in Mexico. The sale of Banamex’s stake to a prominent Mexican businessman is being watched as a barometer of how investors view Mexico’s medium- and long-term growth trajectory, regulatory clarity, and the potential for broader capital-market activity tied to the country’s evolving banking landscape.