Why did Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, visit Uruguay?

By Juan Pablo Álvarez

With discretion and, as they say in the Rio de la Plata, without raising the partridge, Chinese billionaire Jack Ma was in Uruguay last week.

According to the Uruguayan press, the visit of the founder of Alibaba to Uruguay lasted about 72 hours.

It included a visit to the Solís Meat meat packing plant and a tour of a farm located in Maldonado.

The visit was allegedly organized unilaterally by Jack Ma’s team without involving any agreement with the Uruguayan government.

The Chinese tycoon did not take any pictures with Uruguayan authorities.

“The visit was completely private,” a diplomatic source told the Uruguayan newspaper El Observador, who said a commercial secretary from the Chinese embassy in Uruguay accompanied the billionaire.

The newspaper also noted that Jack Ma’s presence in Uruguay was initially reported by Blasina & Asociados.

The consulting firm added that the executive traveled to “talk business”.

In addition, the local press highlighted that the Government and the Ministry of Agriculture expressed surprise at how unnoticed the visit was, knowing the high profile the Chinese magnate has always had.

“At the same time, representatives of the meat sector were surprised by the possibility of his making investments, although they reported that in recent times several Chinese business groups have visited the country intending to analyze possibilities”, reported El Observador.

Jack Ma was at the Solís Meat meat packing plant, located in the department of Lavalleja, and at a private farm in the Uruguayan department of Maldonado.

It should be noted that Solís Meat has several Chinese companies as clients.

Considered a medium-sized meat packing plant, it slaughtered 10,788 head of cattle this year, or 2.3% of the country’s total, according to National Meat Institute (INAC) information.

ONE OF THE LARGEST FORTUNES IN CHINA

According to Bloomberg’s ranking of billionaires, Ma owns the 39th fortune worldwide, the fourth in China, and the eighth in Asia Pacific.

His wealth is around US$32.6 billion.

With information from Bloomberg