Eugenio Baeza recounts the deal to buy Parma from Nestlé, walking through the negotiations and complexities of acquiring the brand. He also discusses other major transactions with companies like Femsa, revealing what actually happens behind closed doors in big business deals.
And when we were about to close, it was 911. So I called the people at Slay and said, hey, wait, let me see if they're going to lend me the money. For example, in 89 we bought BF, which we bought from Femsa, right? A very fun negotiation. Imagine the size of Femsa and the size of us. And then we bought Bur. 99, 98 and then 99. Burr was a very interesting transaction. The BRR family was very enterprising with, with impressive growth. They introduced turkey sausages, yogurts and pizzas. They were the ones who achieved this. And suddenly they got out of control and everything was in dollars. And well, the devaluation came and they went bankrupt and they wanted to merge with Agra, right? And then I realized it and I went and talked to Mr. Walter. The accounting was so messy that there came a time when I told him, Look, Mr. Walter, I can't evaluate you like that. The only way is for you to hand over the administration to me without the whole checkbook, give it to me so I can do the accounting to see what you have. And he handed it over to me. And so we spent a year there and then another year negotiating suppliers, banks, etc. And then I told him, Look, Mr. Walter, this is worth so much. If you want to continue being a partner, I'll get you shares in Bafar for that amount. And he bought 7% of Bafar with that amount. He bought it for 12 pesos. It hasn't gone so badly for him. So, well, that. That was Burr. And then came Parma. That negotiation was super exciting because it was Nestele. Imagine Femsa family, complete third generation and a multinational the size of Nestle, right? We were doing the whole operation and the whole deal. And when we were about to close, the 911 call came. So I called the people at Nestle and said, hey, wait, let me see if they're going to lend me the money. And that's when the negotiation started to get really complicated because the person who ran Nestle here didn't want to sell the Parma, Sabor and Campestre parts. So he wouldn't let us move forward. He was getting in our way. And then we had Sigma on the other side wanting to get involved. And so I went to Switzerland and asked for a meeting with a gentleman whose last name was Ching. Mr. Qing was in charge of mergers and acquisitions at Nestle. The name is very appropriate, right? So he made the appointment and I went into his office and he said, hey, I have five minutes, because I'm in a very important negotiation. No, I. I want you to sell me Parma and then they're asking for $25 million and I want to pay you 20. That's the whole issue. Ah. He said to me, look, wait for me and we'll go to dinner. Are you going to invite me? No. To dinner? Yes, I'll invite you. So we went to dinner and then during dinner he was telling me a very, very interesting story. Right? For me, Imagine when he started telling me that what had him in such a hurry was that he was closing Purina for 5 billion euros and I wanted to pay him.
