Speaker 1: He is taking stock with Kathleen Hayes and Pim Box
Speaker 1: on Bloomberg Radio. Jose Quervo brand of tequila was founded
Speaker 1: back in seventeen and today it is the best selling
Speaker 1: tequila in the world. Well, the family that controls Jose
Speaker 1: Quervo the direct descendants of the namesake founder, the Beckman family.
Speaker 1: Will they bring the company public? Let's find out more
Speaker 1: from Ben Bain, he is our Latin America reporter for
Speaker 1: Bloomberg News. Ben, thanks very much for being with us.
Speaker 1: Tell us about this potential initial public offering, who is
Speaker 1: behind it, what would it do to benefit the company,
Speaker 1: and when is it expected? If if ever? Sure? Yeah,
Speaker 1: thanks so much. Um. It's not the first time that
Speaker 1: we've heard rumblings about a Quervo i p O, but
Speaker 1: but it seems as though things are more advanced than previously.
Speaker 1: We're hearing we could see this i p O as
Speaker 1: soon as the third quarter of this year, at least
Speaker 1: that's what UM. We understand the company's targeting UM and
Speaker 1: it could be worth up to a billion dollars, so
Speaker 1: it would be a pretty significant especially in Mexico where
Speaker 1: we've had a pretty dead I p O market. We
Speaker 1: just had one I p O this year, it was
Speaker 1: much smaller. UM, so this would be this would be
Speaker 1: a pretty big deal here in Mexico. UM. The company
Speaker 1: is still set to be deciding what to do with
Speaker 1: the money they could raise. UM. It could be used
Speaker 1: for for things like, uh, we we've heard paying down
Speaker 1: debt um or potentially you know, even more of an
Speaker 1: acquisitive move UM. But the company is set to still
Speaker 1: kind of be considering that and UM, you know, basically
Speaker 1: it's a little bit wait and see. Since we first
Speaker 1: reported this in March, so we understand things are more advanced.
Speaker 1: The company has hired banks JP Morgan Morgan Stanley, UM
Speaker 1: and locally Santander UM and also GBM to work on
Speaker 1: the deal. So Ben of course, the tequila market, the
Speaker 1: industry has has gotten so big, right, there's a lot
Speaker 1: of tequila makers now it's a very popular spirit. Uh
Speaker 1: what what what does this mean for tequila broadly? Uh,
Speaker 1: in the Mexican economy, if they're going to have it
Speaker 1: could be a billion dollar I p O. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: you're you're completely right. I mean tequila is UM, you know,
Speaker 1: it's such a big deal globally, it's it's it's it's
Speaker 1: kind of a growing drink of choice, um you know
Speaker 1: for people around the world. Um, and in Mexico. UM
Speaker 1: you know, the Backman family has been um you know,
Speaker 1: trying to really kind of build on that momentum um. Uh.
Speaker 1: Bloomberg reported, uh you know recently that the Backman family
Speaker 1: is planning to transform the town around Tequila Mexico, which
Speaker 1: is where uh you know a lot of um, a
Speaker 1: lot of the tequila is basically made, um, to kind
Speaker 1: of turn it into almost a Napa Valley like destination,
Speaker 1: um you know for tourists. So certainly raising money, UM
Speaker 1: you know, a billion dollars um you know, would would
Speaker 1: go a long way, um potentially um in terms of
Speaker 1: expanding tequila further. Jose where was certainly not the only
Speaker 1: game in town either, um in the growing tequila markets,
Speaker 1: so um, you know, would give them more firepower to
Speaker 1: continue to lead away. Ben bayin terrific reporting, terrific story.
Speaker 1: He's our emerging markets left town reporter Latin American for
Speaker 1: Bloomberg News, joining us from Mexico City