What was the dream that Alberto Bailleres, the fourth richest man in Mexico, could not achieve

Alberto Baillères Gonzalez he is the fourth richest man in Mexico, with a fortune which amounts to 10 thousand 480 million dollars, according to the American magazine Forbes. Last year, his fortune increased by over 60% thanks to his companies affiliated with the mining industry and the production of silver through his company. Peñoles Industries.

After the death of Raúl Bailleres Chávez, his father; Alberto had to take over the companies that the tycoon founded as well as shares he owned in other commercial buildings. At only 27 years old, Bailleres González, also nicknamed “the king of money”, assumed the management of the industrial group made up of companies belonging to different sectors, such as Cervecería Moctezuma, Metalúrgica Mexicana Peñoles, La Nacional Compañía de Seguros, Manantiales Peñafiel, among others.

However, Baillères’ dream was not to run a business conglomerate, but to be an academic. After completing his studies in economics at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) with two honorable mentions, the current president of BAL Group wanted to continue his student life and pursue a postgraduate degree at London School of Economics, in the United Kingdom, as indicated Expansion, magazine specializing in economics and commerce.

The dream is frustrated for the businessman in 1967, since upon the death of Bailleres Chávez, the young man takes the figure of the patriarch with his businesses and his family. “Unfortunately, and for painful reasons, I was forced to abandon my project,” said the magnate in 1999 after receiving an honorary doctorate from ITAM, a university founded by his father.

“I became almost invisible to my friends and to society, as I realized that I needed all of my energy to be with my family and run the business. There was hardly time to do anything else, ”said the former president of the department store chain. Iron palace, a company that his father bought in 1948 from French immigrants.

To this day, there are stores scattered throughout the Mexican Republic, in Puebla Monterrey, Guadalajara, Acapulco, Villahermosa, among other states. In addition, Bailleres González owns Fresnillo, one of the silver mines largest in the world and the insurance company GNP It is the largest and oldest in Mexico.

In the life of the 89-year-old tycoon, the accolades of Entrepreneur of the year by the magazine Forbes Latin America in 2013, while in 2015 he received the Belisario Domínguez Medal, awarded by the Senate of the Republic and cataloged as the highest decoration that the body politic bestows on the most eminent citizens.

Several years, Baillères fought for the top positions of the famous ranking Mexican millionaires, in which also appeared businessmen such as Germán Larrea Mota Velasco, Eva Gonda Rivera, María Asunción Aramburuzabala and Ricardo Salinas Pliego.

On April 30, the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, reported during his morning conference that Alberto Baillères left the presidency of his companies to hand over the post to his son Alejandro Baillères Gual in some companies of BAL Group: Palacio de Hierro and Grupo Profuturo, controller of companies that operate mainly in the insurance segments, savings fund managers and investment fund managers.

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