Altagracia Gómez

Promotora is making significant strides in the industrial real estate market, particularly in the regulated warehouse sector and logistics and technology solutions.

There are many unattended opportunities in the industrial real estate market. What progress has Promotora made in this niche?

Promotora as a conglomerate has many different sectors. One of the main sectors is the regulated warehouse sector, and Almer is obviously the biggest one in the country. There are 14 projects in motion at the moment with two aims: to capture and create value in two different areas, namely consolidation and specialization. At the moment, we are also evaluating the possibility of acquiring two or three different companies in different sectors within industrial warehouses. These warehouses specialize in cold storage, different technologies, pharmaceuticals, and/or last-mile deliveries. We have been fortunate to find possible partners to continue the expansion. Of our 14 projects with Almer, some are acquiring assets while others are building new ones from scratch. Some others are commercial alliances with various partners that bring in different expertise or added value. It is basically creating an ecosystem for nearshoring. In Almer, we have been leading the industrial warehouse sector, though we also make up 50% of the market in warehouse enabling. We are also growing rapidly in logistics, business management, and asset-based loans and are the market leaders in those three areas. We are looking at not only how we can offer our clients better solutions in that area but also how to bring in new clients. We have become a one-stop shop for large and small to medium companies that need access to technology and more efficient freight logistics. In terms of warehouses, we do not just have cold storage; we have the largest tequila warehouse in the world, with 20 million liters of tequila. We have been able to find certain niches, grow in them, and diversify. First, it was commodities such as wheat and corn. Then, we moved into minerals, such as aluminum and copper. Now, we are heavily focused on SMEs that have been ignored for a long time but are needed for supply chains to work for nearshoring.

In what ways has doing business changed since the first free FTA signed in North America in the 1990s?

The FTA in North America is the most important, multilateral trade agreement in the world and has been in effect since the 1990s. This is the most valuable region in terms of trade, though our countries have changed in the last 30 years, and the treaties had the need to evolve. Capitalism is also not the same as it was then; now, it is not only about measuring a company’s productivity but also other things like sustainability, diversity, and inclusion. Mexico has everything necessary to be a leader. It is an opportunity to come together as a region and create the greatest value from trade. As a company, we are proud that one of our biggest assets are people and our teams. We have been able to build very capable and diverse teams, and it has been proven that having more diverse teams leads to more innovation and larger profits.

What kinds of industries are you targeting for nearshoring?

We are a highly diversified group, and they all have different targets. We already work with the automotive industry including Tesla, Volkswagen, Audi, and more. These are all international Tier One and Two companies that are part of the international automotive supply chain. For DINA, we have formed a technology agreement with a Chinese company for heavy-duty trucks as well as various agreements for technological and commercial cooperation to develop electric vehicles and other niche vehicles. For example, we have worked with the Californian government and TMM to develop Hustler truck specifically made for the Long Beach port. We are also repurposing RTP buses and converting them to electrical buses. There are various initiatives to encourage the export of different added value products. We are targeting both large companies as well as small to medium-sized ones.