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Washington, D.C./Mexico City, January 26, 2012
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, will make a $25 million equity investment in Alpha, a subsidiary of Mexico’s Corporación GEO to help the company expand its prefabricated construction business and build up to 45,000 affordable homes a year by 2015.
Mexico has an estimated shortage of nine million homes, with more than 70 percent of the demand coming from lower-income families. IFC’s approach in Mexico is to build private sector capacity to deliver a sustainable home-building program that addresses the country’s shortage of affordable housing and urban infrastructure.
With production facilities in Monterrey, Guadalajara, Tijuana, and the State of Mexico, Alpha is the only Latin American company using innovative technology that enables GEO to build homes in production facilities and assemble them on-site. This automated process, which includes an integrated system of precast concrete panels on mobile beds, creates a high-quality product and significantly speeds up manufacturing.
The environmentally friendly technology cuts waste generation by 70 percent and reduces the use of energy during construction by 18 percent. The prefabrication also allows for higher levels of insulation and integration of water- and energy-efficient technology in the homes.
“Our plants have delivered about 7,800 affordable and sustainable homes, and we have had very positive feedback from our customers,” said Luis Orvañanos Lascurain, CEO and Chairman of Corporación GEO. “Partnering with IFC will help us further consolidate our leadership position and remain competitive through higher operational efficiencies, enabling us to deliver a better-quality product to lower-income families and expand into new markets.”
Oscar Chemerinski, IFC Director, Manufacturing, Agribusiness and Services for Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa, said: “IFC’s home-building strategy is to finance companies that build homes for users at the base of the economic pyramid. In addition to doing that, this project will also promote technology innovation and accelerate GEO’s growth into a regional business leader with the opportunity to expand and transfer knowledge to Central and South America.”
IFC’s strategy in Mexico focuses on enhancing the private sector’s competitiveness, deepening the financial sector, supporting infrastructure, and investing in areas newly opened to private sector participation. IFC also promotes environmental sustainability, social development, and corporate governance.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. We help developing countries achieve sustainable growth by financing investment, providing advisory services to businesses and governments, and mobilizing capital in the international financial markets. In fiscal 2011, amid economic uncertainty across the globe, we helped our clients create jobs, strengthen environmental performance, and contribute to their local communities—all while driving our investments to an all-time high of nearly $19 billion. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
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About Corporación GEO S.A.B. de C.V.
Corporación GEO is a leading housing developer in Mexico and one of the largest in Latin America. The company is engaged in all aspects of design, development, construction, marketing, sales and delivery of mainly low-income housing developments. With operations in 20 states, GEO is one of the most geographically diversified homebuilders in the country. Since its inception, GEO has sold more than 560,000 homes which currently provide housing to two million people. GEO's
Solid Business Model
focuses mainly on the affordable entry level and lower economic segments, which are supported by government policies and by Mexican housing institutions, INFONAVIT and FOVISSSTE. For more information, visit
www.corporaciongeo.com
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