Mexican stand-off? Carlos Slim asked AMLO for help – but he was frozen out

They made quite the odd couple in Mexico: the world-famous billionaire and the rising leftist politician. For years, they teamed up on projects and spoke nicely of one another in public.

But just as the politician, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, was preparing to move into the presidential palace late last year, his relationship with the billionaire, Carlos Slim, suddenly soured. Mexico’s richest man didn’t join the president’s business advisory board and 'AMLO,' as the leader is commonly known, began taking shots at one of Slim’s companies.

One potential explanation for the chill: a hand-written note Slim sent in October.

As López Obrador was weighing whether to scrap a US$13 billion airport being built for Mexico City, Slim reached out to the president with a personal letter making a plea to save the project, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. He argued that the airport could be turned over to the private sector, and offered to take it on himself, said the people, who asked not to be named because the correspondence was private.

Slim’s strong support wasn’t a surprise – he had publicly defended the new hub and talked about the option for a privately run airport, known as a concession – but the note also proposed that the deal include operations of another airport nearby, Toluca. For López Obrador, who had just staked his winning campaign on a pledge to rein in Mexico’s corporate elite, the bold overture didn’t go over well, said one of the people.

We know the outcome: López Obrador proceeded with a public referendum on the airport and then cancelled the project. Slim, who was heavily invested through construction contracts and a financing vehicle, took a heavy hit. But the note and López Obrador’s bristling response help provide some insight into the cooling behind a seemingly good relationship that went back almost two decades. Now the president is cozier with another billionaire, mogul Ricardo Salinas.

“The airport was a big blow for Slim,” said Alejandro Schtulmann, who runs the political-risk consultancy EMPRA in Mexico City. For the president, “Slim could be of use, but if he’s perceived to be in the way, López Obrador will just run him over. It’s not personal, it’s pragmatic utility.”

While López Obrador’s press office didn’t respond to requests for comment, the Mexican president said Monday in his daily press conference, that he has a good relationship with Slim.

“I just went for a meal with Carlos Slim last week, it was a good conversation,” López Obrador said, without providing additional details.

Past history

The pair have a history of working together; they teamed up to revamp Mexico City’s historic downtown when López Obrador was mayor in the early 2000s. And in a country where personal connections weigh heavily in politics, the daughter of López Obrador’s tourism minister is married to Slim’s eldest son.

In a sign of frayed ties, Slim was the only Mexican media mogul missing when the president announced his business advisory board in November. López Obrador said last month that the billionaire’s energy company was unfairly profiting off unfinished natural gas pipelines. He also said in one of his highly watched daily press conferences that Slim, 79, would be retiring in the coming years. Slim’s spokesman later expressed more moderate comments.

The spokesman, Arturo Elias Ayub, said Friday that there isn’t any rift between Slim and the president. To the contrary, “Slim is in total agreement with AMLO’s top priorities, such as fighting poverty, corruption and improving public safety,” he said. “They’re both believers in promoting economic growth via private and foreign investment.”

Once the world’s richest man, Slim has fallen over the years to No. 10 in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with a US$58.7-billion fortune. He’s still Mexico’s wealthiest person by far. Most of his money has come from telecommunications, but his empire also spreads across construction, banking and mining.

The drop in Slim’s fortune is largely tied to the performance of the Mexican peso, which has fallen about 31 percent since 2013. That same year, a regulatory crackdown from the Mexican government on Slim’s mobile-phone company, América Móvil SAB, squeezed profit margins. Since López Obrador’s July 1 election, Slim’s wealth is roughly unchanged, according to the Bloomberg index.

In contrast, Salinas’s fortune has soared 71 percent in that same time.