The last interview given by Lorenzo Zambrano
Lorenzo Zambrano, chairman and CEO of Cemex (1944-2014). (Photo: LEO MORALES / EL UNIVERSAL )
"All people search their happiness. I
hope to die satisfied with what I did, in peace, grateful to society and for
what I have received," said Lorenzo Zambrano.
These were the last words of the chairman
and CEO of the biggest cement producer of Mexico and one of the five largest cement
suppliers in the world. He died yesterday in Madrid, Spain of natural causes. His body will be
repatriated to Mexico.
In an interview with EL UNIVERSAL on May 8
at his Monterrey office, Zambrano said: "we operate in fifty countries and
have commercial relations with many more. We are ambassadors of Mexico to many
places and I am very proud of what we have shown to the world, our competitors
and to Mexico itself: that Mexicans can compete wherever we want, this is very
important and we are very proud of that.
What do you want from all this in the end,
Mr. Zambrano?
One of my favorite books is "Built to
Last" and that is what we seek, that the company continues improving. When
they tell me that Lorenzo Zambrano and Cemex are one, I tell them they are
wrong. Success is that the company carries on, on its own.
What do you expect as a Mexican?
I expect that the prophecy that Mexico
will become a world power comes true. We have everything to achieve it. In his
book "The next 100 years", George Friedman predicted that would
happen by the third third of the 21st. century, i.e. in 56 or 60 years.
I am sick that everyone talks bad of
Mexico, that they only see the bad aspects, especially insecurity. In Mexico
there are really good news too. Mexicans have a lot to show to the world. Even
though it is true that we have to improve many things, there are more good
things than bad things.
What will be the next industrial
revolution?
It will be in the area of biomedicine: the
replacement of organs by others created by ourselves.
What do you think about the tax reform,
that will stay unchanged until 2018?
We all knew that a tax reform was
necessary. I agree that those who have more should pay more. However, the
reform has not been popular and many people feel affected. We all know that we
have to contribute more, but I think many industries were unnecessarily
affected. It is necessary to help small and middle companies more, because
those are the ones that create more jobs.
What is the main challenge faced by
Mexico?
There are several: economy, security. The
economic challenge is making the country grow through an increased
productivity; I think this is starting to happen. I feel optimist that growth
will pick up, especially due to the structural reforms that have been approved.
Do you think that the reforms coupled with
the macro-economy will help the internal market and bolster growth in Mexico?
Growth is achieved through investment,
that creates jobs and makes people spend more. The structural reforms, with
good secondary laws, will make us grow. However, if the secondary laws are
"more of the same", then it will be a brutal legislative wastage with
no results.
How do you evaluate the administration of
president Enrique Peña Nieto?
It has been successful because he has
promoted Constitutional changes that made reforms possible. No president has
changed so many things for the better in such a short time. He has even
sacrificed political capital to get things approved, and this speaks well of
him. One of the challenges he faces is making the economy grow more. We are
building a new Mexico and it has to be done brick by brick. That is what Peña
Nieto is doing.
What about security?
Nuevo León is better now. We have a new
police corps called "civil force" that has been very successful. The
local government and the public and private sector joined forces to recruit and
train a lot of people in a short time. We had serious security problems, but
that is not the case any more. The solution that Nuevo León found for this
problem could be replicated in other states, but all the society needs to
participate.
Analysts think that over the next years
the Chinese economy will surpass the United States. What do you think about
this?
China's importance is growing, first
because it is a richer country and it supplies many of the things we use. Plus,
its internal market is also growing fast. China will continue to grow for a
long time and that will clearly change the geo-political balance. It is a very
ancient society, they are very proud, not as much as Mexicans, but they are
proud of their country and they are a world power.
When that happens, what will happen with
Mexico?
One thing is that China becomes bigger in
economic terms and another thing is that the United States will become
irrelevant. This will not happen. The U.S. will continue to grow, it has a very
agile economic structure that enables them to change direction really fast. We
operate in the United States and the consumption of our products has happily
grown.
As the CEO of a multinational company,
what are the main challenges faced by this type of firms?
The lack of legal certainty and the civil
wars among countries. We managed to get through what happened in Egypt, but you
have to be careful while selecting the countries you operate in.
What options does Cemex have after the
merger of Holcim-Lafarge and Lafarge with Elementia in Mexico?
What Lafarge and Holcim did was a result
of the consumption crisis registered over the last years. They wanted to
achieve very ambitious synergies and I wish they do, but it will not be easy.
They thought they could create value by merging, because their main markets
were not growing. They also wanted to cut costs. They will be in less places
and will have to sell assets, and this is very favorable for us. We are
interested in some of them, we could buy them.
Would that be an option for Cemex to hang
on?
We can hang on with our without that, but
we would like to buy and grow that way. The battle is won with productivity and
a good management. However, we would do a little better if we purchased assets,
and it can be done.
Was the decision of buying Rinker right?
Yes, I am very happy with what we bought.
What we did wrong was financing it with debt, we should have financed it with
capital too, but we were very aggressive in our financing strategy. The
purchase was good and it will help us take advantage of the positive trend in
the U.S. economy.
What markets does Cemex consider have
a greater potential?
All Latin America is very attractive,
because of the prevailing rule of law. The Southeast of Asia too, we would like
to increase our presence in Asia, but we would like those countries to have
solid and stable political institutions. And also some Eastern European
countries.
Does the energy reform open some
opportunities for Cemex?
We are already producing wind energy and
have a considerable investment in Nuevo León. We have several interesting
projects that we will announce as time progresses, but yes, we will take
advantage of it.
What do you think of neoliberalism?
I have always believed in free market, but
markets can not be totally unregulated. The lack of regulations worsens
financial crisis. I worry about the income gap too, not only in Mexico but all
over the world. In the U.S. this has become a political problem, because the
income of a certain percentage of the population has grown while the rest has
stagnated. People resent that.