Billionaire says $2.3 billion Banamex stake signals confidence in Mexico's economy

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A day after Citigroup announced it would sell a 25% stake in Banamex to billionaire Fernando Chico Pardo, the Mexican businessman said his $2.3 billion investment should be read as a sign of confidence in Mexico’s government and economic potential.

The sale, which is expected to be completed next year after Mexican regulators sign off, comes after Citigroup announced in January 2022 that it was moving away from retail banking in Latin America.

Mexico’s then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said at the time “we would like this bank to be Mexicanized,” contending that foreign bankers often take profits abroad rather than re-invest them in Mexico.

Chico Pardo said Thursday that he only got fully into negotiations with the U.S. financial behemoth six months ago.

“I believe that the foreign investment which is so necessary for our country must complement domestic investment,” he said.

Citigroup originally acquired Banamex, one of Mexico’s largest banks, in 2001. Under Citigroup, Banamex had grown to Mexico’s fourth-largest banking company, with 1,300 branches and 13 million customers.

Chico Pardo is currently chairman of the board of ASUR, which operates nine airports in southeast Mexico, the main airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and six airports in Colombia.

He is also president and CEO of Promecap, a private equity firm. He previously founded and ran a brokerage firm.

The plan is eventually to go public with the remainder of Banamex, but Chico Pardo would remain as the principal shareholder.

Citi's International Director Ernesto Torres Cantu, left, businessman and owner of 25% of Banamex Fernando Chico Pardo, center, and Director of Grupo Financiero Banamex Manuel Romo join hands during a press conference in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

Businessman Fernando Chico Pardo, owner of 25% of Banamex, gives a press conference in Mexico City, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

MADRID (AP) — A Turkish Airlines flight made an emergency landing Thursday at Barcelona’s international airport after a passenger created an in-flight wireless network whose name contained a bomb threat, an airlines spokesperson said.

As the Turkish Airlines TK1853 flight from Istanbul was approaching its destination at Barcelona-El Prat Airport, “it was detected that a passenger established an in-flight internet access point and set the network name to include a bomb threat,” the spokesperson, Yahya Üstün, said. As a result, the plane, an Airbus 321, made an emergency landing.

The airline said the return flight would operate normally.

Spain’s Civil Guard police force said it had investigated the incident, and that no explosive was found on-board. It added that the airport was operating normally.

FILE - Turkish Airlines airplanes are parked at Ataturk International Airport, in Istanbul, Friday, April 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)