Grupo México S.A.B. de C.V

What it is

Grupo México is Mexico’s largest mining corporation and the world’s third-largest copper producer. Its mining division is the fourth-largest copper producer globally and holds the world’s largest copper reserves.

The group operates through three commercial arms: Mining (its engine, run through subsidiary Southern Copper Corporation and Minera México), Transportation (GMéxico Transportes, which accrued revenues of US$3.33bn in 2024), and an Infrastructure division covering construction, drilling, and wind energy.

Minera México oversees major operations including the Buenavista del Cobre mine in Sonora, contributing to Grupo México’s dominant 78% share of national copper output as of 2024. The company also holds rail concessions, including Ferromex, that form one of Mexico’s largest rail networks.

Who owns it

Chairman and CEO Germán Larrea holds a 19.2% stake directly; his family holding company, Empresarios Industriales de México, owns a further 40.6%, according to the company’s 2024 annual report. Together that is roughly 59.8% of the company in Larrea family hands — confirmed by the EODHD insider figure of 63.8% — leaving institutional investors with about 18.6% and a free float of under 18%.

The founding lineage traces to Jorge Larrea Ortega, who built the company from a 1942 construction firm and expanded into mining through acquisitions of privatised government assets in the 1980s; his son Germán assumed leadership in 1994. German Larrea took the reins of a newly reorganised Grupo México in 1994, and the company’s shares have increased 25-fold under his watch.

Who runs it

Germán Larrea Mota-Velasco has been Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Grupo México since 1994. Despite his high-profile position, Larrea maintains a notably low public profile, preferring to let the company’s results speak for themselves.

At the divisional level, Alfredo Casar Pérez serves as Executive President of the Transportation Division, while Francisco Zinser González is Chief Executive Officer of the Infrastructure Division. A separate CFO for the Grupo México holding company is not disclosed in available public sources; Isaac Franklin Unkind holds the Chief Administrative and Financial Officer role within the Transportation arm.

The money, in plain words

Every dollar of sales the company collects, it keeps about 27 cents as net profit — a net margin of 27.1% (our calculation) on FY2025 revenues of US$18.18bn, a record. Revenue has grown from US$14.37bn in 2023 to US$16.17bn in 2024 to US$18.18bn in 2025 — a cumulative rise of 26.5% in two years (our calculation), driven by higher copper prices and volume.

For every dollar shareholders have put in, the business earns back about 26 cents a year — a return on equity of 25.7%, exceptional for a capital-heavy miner. The shares trade at 15.7 times earnings (price-to-earnings of 15.7×), modest for a company growing at this pace.

The mining division’s net cash cost dropped to US$0.89 per pound of copper in 2025 — a 22% improvement — keeping Grupo México the lowest-cost copper producer globally. The balance sheet holds US$9.27bn in cash against no disclosed short-term debt, giving the group a net cash cushion that few miners can match.

No major debt maturities fall due until 2028.

What it is doing now

The company’s ongoing capital investment program could exceed US$27 billion this decade, with major projects in Peru, the US, Spain, and Mexico. The most-watched single project is Tía María in Arequipa, Peru — a greenfield mine with an approved budget of US$1.8bn that is expected to begin construction in 2025 and produce 120,000 tonnes of copper cathodes per year.

In February 2025, subsidiary Minera México issued US$1bn in seven-year bonds at 5.6%, drawing US$3.5bn in orders from global investors — demand of 3.4 times the size of the deal — to fund Mexican capital expenditure. S&P Global ranked Grupo México among the 15 highest-rated companies out of 148 in the Mining and Metals sector at end-2024, securing its place in the Dow Jones Sustainability MILA Pacific Alliance Index for an eighth consecutive year.

What to watch

• Copper price exposure. Mining generates the overwhelming share of profit; a sustained fall in the copper price flows almost directly to the bottom line. The stock is, in effect, a leveraged call on copper.
• Tía María execution. If Peru’s new government permits begin on schedule, the project could add roughly 10% to group copper output. Any fresh community opposition or regulatory delay would reset the timeline.
• Peru ore grades. Management expects ore grade recovery at its Peruvian operations by end-2026 — a key swing factor for production costs and volumes.
• Concentration risk. With the Larrea family holding close to 60% of the company and the chairman also serving as CEO, governance is tightly held. Minority investors have limited ability to influence strategy.
• Banamex door closed. In October 2025 Germán Larrea proposed to buy Citigroup’s Mexican consumer banking business, Banamex; Citi rejected the approach on 9 October. That removes one avenue for capital deployment and leaves the question of what Larrea does next with an ever-growing cash pile.

This is news, not investment advice.