Grupo Mexico Transportes USA (GMXT) has agreed to partner with U.S. rail technology company Wabtec to submit a joint bid for Belgrano Cargas y Logistica - the state-run freight operator that manages Argentina's three largest freight train lines - a person at GMXT told Reuters on Thursday. The source requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter.
The potential sale of BCYL forms part of President Javier Milei's initiative to transfer state-owned enterprises into private hands. Argentina will publish the tender documents for the privatization of BCYL in the coming days, the source said. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
GMXT is a business unit of Grupo Mexico, the Mexico-based conglomerate. Other parties have been reported as expressing interest in bidding for BCYL, including miner Rio Tinto and an agricultural consortium comprised of Bunge, Cargill, Louis Dreyfus Company, Asociacion de Cooperativas Argentinas and Aceitera General Deheza.
BCYL operates the Urquiza, Belgrano and San Martin freight corridors. Together those lines move about 7.5 million tonnes of produce per year, roughly 60 percent of which are agricultural products and derivatives. The privatization plan is framed as an effort to improve transportation of goods - notably grains - from northern and western Argentina to the major export terminals concentrated in the Rosario region.
Argentina is described in the tender context as one of the world's largest grain suppliers and as a country with a developing mining sector. The reported interest from both a miner and a group of agribusiness firms underscores cross-sector attention on the logistics network that links production zones to export infrastructure.
Stakeholders and positioning
- Grupo Mexico Transportes USA and Wabtec - reported joint bidders seeking the concession.
- Other interested parties - Rio Tinto and a multi-company agricultural consortium have been named as potential bidders.
- Argentine government - advancing a privatization agenda under President Javier Milei that will soon release tender documentation.
Operational scale and aims
The three freight lines managed by BCYL currently carry about 7.5 million tonnes annually, a flow predominately composed of agricultural products and derivatives. The stated aim of privatization is to increase the efficiency and capacity of freight movement, particularly for grains destined for Rosario export ports.
Market context
The reported bids and the publication of tender documents in the near term position BCYL's privatization as a developing transaction of interest to logistics operators, agribusiness exporters and mining companies that rely on rail access to ports.