Our History

ALFA’s roots go back to the end of the 19th century, when the first industries were established in Monterrey, Mexico.

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1974

A group of businessmen led by Don Roberto Garza Sada founds ALFA, in order to manage their interests in various businesses.
The company was established with three subsidiaries: Tinplate and Sheet (steel), Empaques de Cartón Titán (cardboard) and Draco (mining).

1975

Since 80% of its income was generated by the steel business, ALFA embarked on a growth and diversification program.
The companies Polioles (polystyrene, urethanes and glycols) and Nylon de México (nylon) are acquired.

1977

ALFA's businesses are grouped into three divisions: Steel, Paper and Packaging, and Industries
Fibras Químicas (polyester fibers), today Akra Polyester, is incorporated and Casolar (tourism) and Megatek (capital goods) are founded.

1978

Petrocel (DMT) and La Florida (galvanized steel) are acquired, as well as Philco, Admiral and Magnavox (electronic devices). The ALFA Planetarium is inaugurated. ALFA's shares begin trading on the Mexican Stock Exchange.

1979

Nemak (aluminum auto parts) starts operations in association with Ford and Teksid. The diversification program continues, ALFA invests in agricultural machinery, motorcycles, forging and foundry businesses, domestic appliances and special steels.

1980

Brener, the company that gave rise to Sigma Alimentos, is acquired. Thanks to its rapid growth, in just six years ALFA has become one of the most important companies in Mexico.

1981

The Mexican economy begins to suffer a serious financial crisis that impacts ALFA's results. Faced with this situation, the company cancels projects, reduces expenses, consolidates its operations and begins a process of restructuring liabilities and divestments.

1982-1983

The measures taken by ALFA are beginning to show results. However, the continued devaluation of the peso further complicates the economic situation in Mexico.

1984 - 1986

ALFA's financial results show a marked improvement. However, the drop in oil prices and high interest rates continue to impact the Mexican economy.

1987

ALFA concludes the restructuring of its liabilities. In addition, thanks to the efforts to reduce expenses and increase productivity, as well as the reactivation of the Mexican economy, ALFA has improved its results.

1988

ALFA resumes its growth. Acquires Mexican Terephthalates (PTA) and installs a steel sheet painting line in Galvak.
In addition, it restructures its businesses under four groups: Steel, Petrochemicals, Food and Various Companies.

1990

The opening of commercial borders and the growth of the Mexican economy allow ALFA to continue improving its performance and expanding its operations. The company begins construction of the Indelpro (polypropylene) plant in Tamaulipas.

1991

ALFA allocates significant investments to expand the production capacity of non-flat steel, galvanized sheet, nylon and Lycra®.

1993

Although the economy began to show signs of weakness again, ALFA starts important projects, such as a steel panel line in Galvak.
In addition, Sigma ventures into the dairy market by launching the Chalet® and La Villita® cheese brands.

1994

ALFA lays the foundations for a new era of growth. Construction begins on a minimill in Hylsamex, Sigma builds a cold meat plant in Hidalgo and another yogurt plant in Jalisco. In addition, ALFA opens the first Total Home store (construction and decoration) in association with Payless Cashways in the United States.

1995

ALFA partners with AT&T and Bancomer to found Alestra (telecommunications). It also acquires Univex (caprolactam) and Luxor (carpet), and expands its capacity in petrochemicals and synthetic fibers.
Sigma plant in Monterrey receives certification from the US Department of Agriculture.

1996

The strong demand for ALFA's products drives its results. The company establishes record figures in Income and Operating Flow. In addition, investments of US $2,000 million are approved for the period 1996-2000.

1997

Nemak inaugurates its plant III and ventures into the production of monoblocks. Sigma opens a prepared food plant in Nuevo León. Alpek begins the operation of a PTA plant in Tamaulipas.

1998

ALFA makes its first investment outside of Mexico, by participating in the Consorcio Siderurgia Amazonia, in Venezuela. In addition, it starts up a polyester fiber plant in Nuevo León and starts up Enertek (electricity and steam cogeneration) in Tamaulipas, in association with CSWI from the US.
Hylsamex opens the second line of the minimill, a pre-reduced iron plant, a pickling line, a cold rolling line and a galvanizing line.

1999

With the start-up of Nemak's IV plant, ALFA completes its expansion and modernization program and begins a consolidation phase. The crisis in Asia, Russia and Brazil plummets the price of oil, which impacts ALFA's results.

2000

After a solid recovery in the first half of the year, in the third quarter, the drop in steel and petrochemical prices, and the rise in energy costs affect ALFA's results.
The company reconfigures its business portfolio to promote those with the greatest potential for growth and profitability, such as PTA, steel, auto parts and food. Nemak starts its plant V and buys two aluminum auto parts plants in Canada from Ford.

2001

A difficult year for ALFA. The drop in demand and prices for steel and petrochemicals continues to affect its results. Despite this, Sigma recorded the best year in its history.
In addition, in line with the reconfiguration of the portfolio, ALFA sells the 50% that it had of Enertek and 100% of Total Home. In addition, it acquires three PTA and PET plants in the US, becoming the second largest producer of PTA in North America.

2002

A better economic environment and a greater capacity to take advantage of market opportunities allow ALFA to improve its results, increasing its income, profits and operating cash flow. In addition, the refinancing of Hylsamex's debt is completed. ALFA adds PET as a key business in its business strategy.

2003

ALFA decides to divest Hylsamex. Meanwhile, Nemak enters Europe by opening a plant in the Czech Republic, and Sigma enters Central America and the Caribbean through acquisitions. ALFA also expands its PET production capacity in the US, as well as expandable polystyrene and deli meats in Mexico.

2004

Higher sales, better prices and savings in costs and expenses, allow ALFA to report an excellent year, including a record in Operating Cash Flow. The company achieves a solid financial condition and its businesses further strengthen its strategic position. Sigma maintains its growth, incorporating Grupo Chen, achieving leadership in the cheese market in Mexico and expanding its presence in the Caribbean, with the acquisition of the Sosúa company in the Dominican Republic.

2005

ALFA finalizes the separation of Hylsamex. Nemak acquires Rautenbach, a German company that produces aluminum auto parts. Polioles starts a new line of expandable polystyrene in Tamaulipas and becomes the largest site of its kind in North America. The nylon and Lycra® businesses are sold. Sigma acquires New Zealand Mexico and strengthens its position in the cheese market.

2006

ALFA acquires BBVA Bancomer's 49% stake in Onexa (Alestra) and establishes a partnership with Pioneer Natural Resources to explore and exploit natural gas wells in Texas.

2007

ALFA continues to improve the competitiveness of its businesses. Through investments of US $2,000 million, it increases its average production capacity by 50% and its Income in dollars by 40%. In Nemak, the purchase of 18 aluminum auto parts plants in Europe, America and Asia stands out. Alpek opens a PTA plant in Tamaulipas and another PET plant in the United States. In addition, it acquires a PET plant in Mexico and another in Argentina. Sigma buys a cheese company in the US. and two of cold meats in Mexico. Alestra continues to expand its value-added telecommunications services.

2008

ALFA focuses on consolidating and integrating the plants acquired in previous years. Also, it begins the operation of a polypropylene plant in Tamaulipas and a processed meat plant in the US. Sigma ventures into South America, acquiring a cold meat company in Peru, while Alestra continues to increase the offer of value-added services.
Geographic diversification is key for ALFA, in order to face the financial crisis that emerged in the second half of 2008, causing a recession in some markets. Despite this, the company manages to increase its income and maintain the level of Operating Cash.

2009

ALFA successfully faces the worst global economic crisis in the last 80 years. The solid positioning of its businesses and the measures taken to face the new market conditions allow the company to report the best year in its history, with a leaner cost structure and a more solid financial situation. All companies have an excellent performance, considering the circumstances in which they operated. Alpek and Sigma set record figures for Operating Cash Flow. In addition, Nemak restructures its operations and strengthens its market leadership.

2010

ALFA continued to take advantage of the strengths of its businesses to report favorable operating and financial results, including record numbers in revenues and EBITDA.
Two important acquisitions were also made that culminated years of efforts and laid the foundations for the future profitable growth of the company, such as that of Bar-S, the leading company in the production of deli meats in the US. and three PTA and PET plants in this same country

2011

ALFA reported another year of favorable results. The incorporation into Alpek of one PTA plant and two PET plants, located in the US, which were acquired from Eastman Chemicals and Wellman, stood out. Also, it completed the integration of Bar-S, a company acquired in 2010, Nemak built a plant in India. 49% of the shares of Alestra that AT&T had was acquired, with which ALFA now owns 100% of the capital of this company.

2012

ALFA reported a year of positive results by taking advantage of favorable trends in the US automotive and consumer products markets. and Mexico. Alpek became a public company. Nemak acquired JL French to diversify its product portfolio.
Sigma improved their performance and gained synergies at Bar-S. Alestra expanded its network and service coverage. Newpek made progress in drilling new hydrocarbon wells.
ALFA won a tender to provide services to Pemex in two mature oil fields in Veracruz, Mexico.

2013

In a year of challenges, ALFA invested in expanding production capacity and increasing efficiency in its businesses: Alpek built an energy cogeneration plant; Nemak started a second plant in China; Sigma acquired 45% of the capital of Campofrío in Spain; Alestra built its fifth Data Center; and Newpek expanded its operations in the USA and began offering services to companies in the oil and gas industry in Mexico. In addition, ALFA Fundación starts with 100 high school students in the Extra-academic Talent Center located in Monterrey.

2014

ALFA Invested US $1.4 billion in CAPEX and acquisition to enter new geographies, expand production capacity and add value to its products. Highlights include: the start-up of the cogeneration plant in Veracruz, Mexico; the modernization of the caprolactam plant; the purchase of CabelmaPET in Argentina, a company that produces recycled PET resins; and the signing of an agreement with BASF to acquire from it its expandable polystyrene business in the Americas.

2015

The company continued to invest in improving the strength of its businesses. Sigma assumed full control of Campofrío. Alpek incorporated the EPS business acquired from BASF and approved the construction of an energy cogeneration plant. Nemak inaugurated a plant in Russia and started the construction of another one in Mexico. In addition, it carried out an initial public offering of its shares. Finally, Alestra announced its merger with Axtel.

2016

Sigma started up a plant in Spain, replacing the one that suffered an accident in 2014. Alpek acquired a PET plant in Canada, an expandable polystyrene plant in Chile, and began construction of an energy cogeneration plant in Mexico. Nemak started up two plants in Mexico, incorporated a company in Turkey and advanced in the construction of a plant in Slovakia. Finally, ALFA finalized the merger between Alestra and Axtel, forming a more solid company in the IT and communication business.

2017

ALFA continued to invest in expanding its operations, improving efficiencies and adding value to its products. This through the purchase of two cold meat companies, in Peru and Romania; increasing capacity in EPS; starting two auto parts plants, Mexico and Slovakia; as well as a second Data Center in Querétaro in Mexico.

2018

ALFA continued executing its strategic investment program. Alpek finalized the incorporation of PetroquimicaSuape and Citepe in Brazil, as well as the participation in the company created to acquire the integrated PTA-PET plant under construction, in Corpus Christi, Texas. Axtel sells a part of its fiber business in the mass segment, as well as the last lot of its telecommunications towers. Newpek finalized the sale of two territorial assets located in Texas, USA

2019

Alpek acquires a PET recycling plant from Perpetual Recycling Solutions, LLC located in Richmond, Indiana, USA, with a capacity of approximately 45,000 tons per year of high quality flakes, thus increasing its recycling capacity of this material by 60%. . In addition, it completes the sale of its two cogeneration plants. Axtel signs a definitive agreement for the sale of its fiber optic business in the Mass Market, located in the cities of León, Puebla, Toluca, Guadalajara and Querétaro. Announces the signing of a strategic agreement with Equinix, Inc., a global infrastructure and data center company, to strengthen its offering of information technology (IT) and cloud solutions.

2020

ALFA shows a favorable performance in its businesses worldwide, even with the uncertainty generated by COVID-19. Starts the strategy to release the fundamental potential value of ALFA and its subsidiaries, with the approval of the spin-off of Nemak that concluded on December 14, considering this as the first step of transformation towards completely independent subsidiaries. Newpek concludes the sale of all its assets in Texas, USA. Alpek completes the acquisition of Lotte Chemical UK Limited in the Polyester segment and concludes the acquisition of BVPV Styrenics LLC, contributing to its long-term development plan. ALFA focuses its social investment on education through the ALFA Foundation and closes the ALFA Planetarium facilities.

2021

ALFA logró excelentes resultados gracias a los récord de Ingresos y Flujo de Alpek y Sigma. Alpek invirtió US $96 millones en la adquisición de CarbonLITE en EE.UU., para la producción de PET reciclado (rPET). Con el proyecto Evergreen, estableció metas para 2025, 2030 y 2050 en sus doce temas materiales de ESG. Sigma lanzó Better Balance®, marca global de proteína vegetal en Europa, EE. UU.y México. También impulsó nuevos modelos de negocio como Grill House® y CONVY®, ambos con plataformas de comercio electrónico. Además vendió dos plantas en Europa para continuar su plan de mejora de márgenes de Flujo. Axtel lanzó su nuevo servicio de telefonía móvil “Alestra Móvil”, el primer operador móvil virtual (MVNO) empresarial en México, para administrar procesos y capacidades fijas desde dispositivos móviles. Y Axtel Networks presentó la solución Data Center Connect, la cual permite conectar centros de datos e infraestructura de nube alrededor del mundo.

2022

ALFA avanzó en su transformación gradual y ordenada, impulsando la independencia de las subsidiarias y reforzando la posición financiera de la Compañía. Lo más importante fue el inicio del proceso para escindir su participación en Axtel. Sigma lanzó globalmente Better Balance®, la marca de productos a base de proteína vegetal, con más de 1,300 puntos de venta en España, México y Estados Unidos. Alpek adquirió OCTAL empresa productora de lámina de PET en Medio Oriente. Además, anunció la sucesión de José Jesús Valdez en la Dirección General y designó a Jorge Young con una trayectoria de 32 años en Alpek.

2023

Se anunció el proceso de sucesión de la Presidencia del Consejo de Administración, tras una trayectoria de 45 años, Armando Garza Sada se retira de ALFA y permanece como miembro del Consejo; Álvaro Fernández Garza es nombrado Presidente, además de conservar su rol como Director General. Se concluyó el proceso de escisión de la participación de ALFA en Axtel. Sigma se expandió en EE.UU. al adquirir Los Altos Foods y una planta procesadora en Iowa; además desinvirtió sus operaciones en Italia, concentrándose en los mercados clave para mejorar rentabilidad en Europa. Alpek se enfocó en mejorar su competitividad, racionalizó sus operaciones al cerrar dos plantas, en Monterrey y Cooper River, y pausó la construcción de su planta en Corpus Christi, Texas; también, obtuvo su primer un Crédito Vinculado a la Sostenibilidad por US $200 millones. ALFA Fundación cumplió 10 años de operación.

2024

In 2024, ALFA commemorated its 50th anniversary and made significant progress in the final stage of its transformation process. To achieve this, it carried out the following: 1) Successfully raised capital of Ps. $7,952 million (approximately US $392 million). 2)Made early repayment of part of its bank debt amounting to approximately US $575 million. 3) Spun off its entire equity stake in Alpek. The approval took place on October 24, and the transfer of ALFA’s stake to Controladora Alpek occurred on April 7, 2025. ALFA now offers direct access to Sigma, a growing food business with operations in 17 countries and leading brands across all its categories and regions. ALFA shareholders now have full autonomy to define their optimal ownership proportions in four independent business units: 1) Nemak (automotive lightweighting solutions), 2)Controladora Axtel (information and communications technology), 3) Controladora Alpek (petrochemicals), and ALFA|Sigma (food).