Editor's Letter

Vol. V. Issue 1 - May, 2008

Dear Friends,

I’m sure we are all tired of the negative press of the U.S. economic slowdown and its trickle effects on Mexico and the global economy in general. While there are some slight effects on the Mexico economy, there are some bright spots. For instance, while credit has tightened substantially in the U.S., home mortgages shot up in Mexico by 20.5% in March 2008 versus the previous year. Business loans skyrocketed 29.8% against 2007. The first quarter of 2008 saw Mexico’s economy expand by 3%. As a result, we have been very active in our Executive Search division. We have seen seen brisk activity in Mexico in the real estate development industries (for both resort and residential), construction, banking, aerospace and medical device manufacturing. Pharmaceutical and electronics assembly have also shown signs of an upturn. Recent search assignments have been completed in Monterrey, Guadalajara, Torreon, Reynosa, Mexico City and Los Angeles, amongst many other cities.

Mergers and acquisitions involving Mexican companies have been on an upturn in Mexico. In 2007, M&A’s totaled $10.1 billion USD, up 21.7% from 2006. Consolidations and plant shutdowns have also increased and as a result our Mexico outplacement division, Challenger Gray & Christmas, S.C., has been active supporting both domestic and large global companies in Mexico with large scale outplacement projects in Juarez, Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara and Tijuana. To better serve our clients, we have added Rosa Nelly Ramirez as a new member to our staff.  She will be our Director of Northeastern Mexico and service our clients in Monterrey, Reynosa, Matamoros, and Ramos Arizpe areas. Rosa Nelly is an organizational development industry veteran with a master’s degree, neurolinguistics certification, a 14 year O.D. consulting practice and 9 years in Training and O.D. with Delphi. Please feel free to call Rosa Nelly at (899) 924-0743 or Francisco Glennie, Managing Partner in our Mexico City office at (555) 540-5250.