Ricardo Salinas Pliego’s relationship with the inventory market has at all times been theatrical, however the ultimate act of Grupo Elektra’s public life was operatic. After a 4‑month buying and selling freeze demanded by the corporate, Elektra’s shares reopened on 2 December 2024 and fell 71 per cent in a single day. Inside 4 weeks Salinas, now holding roughly 95 per cent of the fairness, delisted the group. Critics—together with governance specialists, fund managers and a rising refrain of Mexican columnists—say the sequence was no accident. They argue Salinas staged a “collapse‑and‑conquer” manoeuvre: lock the market at a lofty worth, set off a crash on his personal timetable, purchase the rubble, then take the agency non-public at discount value. The proof is circumstantial however compelling, and it raises uncomfortable questions in regards to the holes in Mexico’s market rule‑ebook.
A freeze that favoured just one shareholder
The drama started on 26 July 2024 when the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) halted buying and selling after Elektra claimed a creditor, Astor Asset Administration, had “illegally disposed” of seven million pledged shares. Armed with a provisional courtroom order, Elektra warned that reopening the market would trigger “irreparable injury”. When regulators tried to elevate the freeze in November, the corporate secured contemporary injunctions, prolonging the limbo to 130 days. Reuters recorded two separate suspensions in that interval—each at Elektra’s behest.
The share worth, frozen at MXN 944, nonetheless counted for index weightings, collateral calculations and league‑desk wealth estimates. That benefited Salinas, whose lenders may in any other case have pressured a collateral sale at decrease ranges. In the meantime index funds have been trapped and retail buyers had no exit. “It was worth discovery in reverse,” says an rising‑markets supervisor in Mexico Metropolis.
The crash that adopted
When buying and selling lastly resumed on 2 December, a backlog of promote orders met virtually no bids above MXN 300. Shares collapsed 71 per cent, erasing about US $5.5 billion of market worth. Reuters famous that Moody’s swiftly warned of “reputational dangers” for Banco Azteca, Elektra’s banking arm. Circuit‑breakers have been overridden to maintain the inventory reside, however by the third session sellers reported purchase orders—largely by way of brokers linked to insider accounts—accumulating between MXN 200 and 400.
With the free float shrinking quick, Salinas known as a unprecedented assembly for 27 December. Virtually all excellent shares now sat in pleasant palms, and delisting handed with ease. Dissenting minorities, locked in for months after which hammered by the crash, carried no weight.
Tax arrears and the starvation for opacity
Why, critics ask, would a billionaire detonate his personal market capitalisation? One reply is to flee a valuation he might now not defend; one other lies within the courts. La Jornada reviews MXN 74 billion (≈ US $4.3 billion) in unpaid taxes throughout 32 lawsuits involving Grupo Salinas. President Claudia Sheinbaum’s authorities has pledged to pursue such arrears, warning that “even billionaires pays what they owe.” El País lists Grupo Salinas as probably the most outstanding debtor amongst Mexico’s giant corporations.
Taking Elektra non-public removes quarterly disclosures that supplied analysts—and by extension the tax authority—a window on money flows, associated‑get together loans and asset transfers. That new opacity, sceptics argue, strengthens Salinas’s hand in any settlement talks.
Litigation spreads to New York
Privatisation didn’t finish authorized pressure elsewhere within the empire. On 22 July 2025 collectors of TV Azteca sued in New York for US $580 million of overdue bond funds, alleging sources have been diverted “to associates and insiders” whereas debt went unpaid. Legal professionals say they are going to search discovery on transfers relationship again to the buying and selling freeze, doubtlessly dragging Elektra’s December turbulence into US courts.
Governance issues ripple by markets
The Elektra saga has grow to be a reference level for rising‑market threat modellers. Mexico’s fairness threat premium widened about 25 foundation factors in December and stays sticky. Moody’s warned that Banco Azteca faces “reputational dangers” due to “substantial associated‑get together publicity,” describing it as proof of governance weaknesses linked to Grupo Salinas’ carefully held, household‑based mostly possession construction. Banco Azteca, now funding itself with out the transparency of a sister itemizing, faces more durable questions from rankings companies about associated‑get together publicity.
Salinas strikes again
Salinas rejects the conspiracy thesis. On X he manufacturers tax claims “extortion” and labels critics “socialist parasites”. His spokespeople insist Elektra’s delisting will unlock funding in micro‑credit score, digital banking and Central American enlargement—initiatives, they are saying, finest pursued “with out quarterly noise”. But bankers be aware that giant capital raises will now require non-public placements or asset gross sales, each tougher to execute beneath a litigation cloud.
Can regulators shut the loopholes?
Greater than eight months after Elektra’s lightning‑quick delisting, Mexico’s watchdogs have but to brandish a single enforcement motion. At a 28 June 2025 press convention, the federal tax prosecutor disclosed that Grupo Salinas nonetheless owes over MXN 74 billion in again taxes unfold throughout 32 lawsuits—some relationship to 2008—and has “litigated with fervour” to keep away from fee for 16 years. President Claudia Sheinbaum nodded in settlement because the official outlined what she known as a scientific technique of delay. But these big liabilities stay in limbo, and no sanctions have adopted the 130‑day buying and selling freeze that gutted Elektra’s share worth. The only real tangible consequence was the corporate’s computerized ejection from Mexico’s IPC index as soon as the halt handed 20 enterprise days—a rule that punished passive buyers however left the controlling shareholder unscathed. For critics, the mixture of courtroom stalling ways and regulatory silence underscores a troubling lesson: in Mexico, a billionaire can park a multibillion‑peso tax invoice and orchestrate a market meltdown with out dealing with fast repercussions.
Reputational stakes
For unusual Mexican savers—the trainer who held Elektra by her Afore pension fund, the small retailer who purchased shares as a result of she trusted the model—the sense of betrayal is acute. On-line boards flow into screenshots of the share graph that plunges like an elevator shaft and hyperlink to investigative blogs—of various credibility—claiming insider shopping for through the rout. Whether or not courts or regulators validate such claims will decide how lengthy the episode haunts Mexico’s repute as an funding venue. As one former CNBV commissioner advised Reuters, “occasions like these can solely be addressed by decisive enforcement”.
Salinas might but persuade a courtroom that Elektra’s privatisation was unlucky timing amid a real creditor quarrel. Till regulators or judges produce a definitive account, the episode continues to gas doubts about governance requirements on Latin America’s second‑largest bourse.
Disclaimer:
This text is predicated on public filings, press reviews, courtroom paperwork and interviews. Allegations described stay unproven until validated by a reliable courtroom or regulatory discovering. Ricardo Salinas Pliego and Grupo Elektra deny wrongdoing.
