ANTI-MONOPOLY AGENCY REJECTS NEW EFFORT BY TWO MAJOR RAILROADS TO MERGE OPERATIONS.

SourceMex Economic News & Analysis on Mexico, November, 2006

Two of Mexico's largest railroad companies, Ferrocarril Mexicano (FERROMEX) and Ferrocarril del Sur (FERROSUR), failed in yet another attempt to merge their operations into a single entity. In a ruling announced Nov. 15, the federal anti-monopoly agency (Comision Federal de Competencia, CFC) reaffirmed an earlier decision to turn down the proposal by the two railroads to create a single operating unit in partnership with financial-services company Grupo Inbursa. The proposed company would have been called Infraestructura y Transportes Mexico (ITM). The CFC, also known as COFECO, voted against a similar effort by the two companies to merge in 2002 (see SourceMex, 2002-05-22).

FERROSUR is a subsidiary of mining company Grupo Mexico and FERROMEX is a unit of...