Associate Civil Engineers (ICA) owes 112 million pesos to a group of subcontracted companies to build emblematic projects such as the Maya Train and the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA), according to documentation in the possession of Forbes Mexico.
Even though it obtained several contracts in the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the construction company rescued by billionaire David Martínez Guzmán has not settled its debts with companies such as Icapsa Infraestructura de Desarrollo, Kypcon Ingenieros Civiles, Construcciones Peñascos and Marco Antonio Valdez Gutiérrez, who formed the Entrepreneurs Affected by ICA consortium and its subsidiaries.
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According to documentation, The debts are linked to ICA and its subsidiaries such as Desarrollo de Infraestructura Puerto Escondido, Holding Prefabricados, Península Maquinaria y Equipo Pesado and Constructora MT de Oaxaca.
The Entrepreneurs Affected by ICA consortium and its subsidiaries reported that non-payments have generated layoffs, financial problems and impacts for more than 300 families.
In 2018, Bagual, Grenadier and Pequod, a subsidiary company of Fintech Advisory Inc, capitalized and financed the operations of ICA, which at that time was facing debt, had no works or projects and had only 3 employees.
According to the Federal Economic Competition Commission (Cofece), Bagual, Grenadier and Pequod are investment vehicles owned by Fintech Advisory Inc, a company founded by billionaire David Martínez Guzmán.
Fintech Advisory Inc is a company created in the United States, whose main activity consists of providing advisory services in economic and investment matters, as well as participating in investment projects.
David Martínez’s final landing at ICA occurred on June 10, 2020, when Bagual acquired more than 169 million shares, according to the purchase and sale contract sent to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, known as SEC.
Bagual, a domiciled company, paid 5.47 pesos for each of the shares of ICA, a company founded by engineers who graduated from the Faculty of Engineering of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
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David Martínez Guzmán, a British citizen, is 64 years old and is also an independent director of Cemex, the Mexican cement company with a strong presence in the United States and Mexico.
He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Alfa and Vitro, companies listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange in Mexico, as well as Sabadell Bank, a company listed in Spain.
Martínez Guzmán is founder and director of Fintech Advisory Inc., as well as general director of its subsidiary in London, Fintech Advisory, Ltd, and member of the Board of Directors of ICA Tenedora.
ICA debts
During the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the construction company became one of the major protagonists in the construction of large infrastructure projects promoted by the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The company participated in the construction of the Mayan Train, the erection of the Nichupté Vehicular Bridge, as well as the Olmeca Dos Bocas Refinery.
Between 2020 and 2024, the company led by Guadalupe Phillips Margain obtained 17 contracts valued at 45,180 million pesos from the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador. While another 16 contracts for 10,166 million pesos were awarded by the federal entities.
Icapsa Infrastructure Development, which participated in the construction of the accesses to the Felipe Ángeles International Airport, one of the largest works of the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
For several months, the company has faced reductions in its workforce and delays in the payment of payroll and benefits.
Kypcon Ingenieros Civiles, which worked on the construction of section 4 of the Maya Train, sold assets and resorted to bank loans to remain operational.
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Construcciones Peñascos initiated three legal lawsuits in civil courts in Mexico City, with files identified as 521/2024, 522/2024 and 585/2024, against Developer of Infrastructure Puerto Escondido, Holding Prefabricados and Península Maquinaria y Equipo Pesado.
The progress of the litigation has been affected by changes in the administrative addresses of these companies, which has complicated their location.
Additionally, Marco Antonio Valdez Gutiérrez, the only one of the suppliers with a part of its debt directly linked to ICA’s parent company, faces serious financial difficulties.
According to reviewed documents, the lack of payment has affected the ability of his company to operate normally and cover obligations such as machinery maintenance, payment to creditors and participation in new projects.
ICA subsidiaries have modest or no records. For example, Hidroeléctrica La Yesca appears with a single agreement for 62 million 264 thousand pesos (2015), while Constructora El Cajón has three contracts that total 446 million 042 thousand pesos (2019).
On the contrary, subsidiaries such as Península Maquinaria y Equipo Pesado, Desarrollo de Infraestructura Puerto Escondido and Holding Prefabricados do not have registered public contracts.
This is not the first case in which ICA faces claims from its suppliers. In July 2024, the Board of Directors of Caribbean Operators required the construction company to cover the services provided during the work on the Nichupté Bridge, after three months of delay.
This same year, Comedco made a claim for the cancellation of a contract to connect the Maya Train with the Cancun International Airport. While in Querétaro a delay of more than half a year was reported in the conclusion of the Paseo 5 de Febrero project, which led the local government to consider whether or not ICA should continue participating in future state projects.
In mid-2023, eight years have passed since Energético Internacionales (Energex) initiated legal proceedings against the company for a debt estimated at more than 22 million pesos, including default interest.
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In January 2022, the then president Andrés Manuel López Obrador indicated that ICA had been a beneficiary of tax forgiveness for more than 7.8 billion pesos, granted during the six-year terms of Felipe Calderón and Enrique Peña Nieto, positioning itself among the five largest companies. favored from that period.
Today, the company led by Guadalupe Phillips Margain collaborates with Grupo Carso in the development and construction of the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a strategic project that includes the ports of Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, and Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz.
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