Sanluis Participates in Annual Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Conference
17 April 2000
Sanluis Participates in 15th Annual Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Global Automotive Conference; The Only Latin American Company Invited
NEW YORK, April 17 SANLUIS Corporacion (BMV: SANLUIS), a
leading supplier of highly engineered auto parts to original equipment
manufacturers (OEMs) through its subsidiary SANLUIS Rassini, announced today
that it is participating in the 15th Annual Global Automotive Conference
organized by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter in New York City. The Company is
represented at the conference by Mr. Antonio Madero, Chairman and CEO, who
today highlighted the strategy and accomplishments of SANLUIS in his speech to
the conference. The conference continues through April 20.
The Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Conference, held annually since 1986, is
one of the leading capital market showcases for the automotive industry. This
year, top executives from 30 of the largest and most dynamic international
companies in the auto and auto parts industry were invited to present their
business strategies to the 150 major investors who are attending the three day
meeting. SANLUIS was the only company headquartered in Latin America to
participate, along with other industry leaders such as GM, Ford, BMW, Delphi,
Lear, and Tenneco.
A Gathering of Industry Leaders
"We were honored to be invited by Morgan Stanley to participate in their
Global Automotive Conference. This meeting is one of the most important
opportunities during the year to talk to the leading investors in our
industry, as well as to compare notes with other industry executives," said
Mr. Madero. "That SANLUIS is the only Mexican or Latin American company here,
is not only a tribute to the success of our strategy, but reflects the impact
of globalization on the automotive industry. To compete effectively in this
new world, SANLUIS has brought together international engineering skills,
world class production technology, Mexican and Brazilian production skills,
Mexican and U.S. management, and a profound commitment to customer
satisfaction," continued Mr. Madero.
Mr. Madero noted that SANLUIS has grown at a compound annual growth rate
of 33% over the past five years, making it one of the fastest growing
companies in the industry. This rapid growth reflects the commitment of the
Company, whose roots are in the mining industry and which still has an
important investment in gold and silver mining, to transform itself into an
enterprise primarily focused on the production of highly engineered auto
parts. This transformation coincided with a shift in the industry as the OEMs
moved important parts of their worldwide component sourcing to Mexico.
SANLUIS's suspension products have a 62% market share in the North
American light truck market, and the brake components have a growing presence-
8% market share after just 3 years of production. In addition, SANLUIS
supplies leaf springs to 10 of the 15 best selling vehicles in North America,
and will soon start supplying sub-assemblies of foundation brake modules.
Within the next 24 months, the Company will begin supplying new contracts that
will generate approximately US$500 million of additional revenues over the
estimated life of the contracts. These contracts include suspensions for the
GMT-355, GMT-560, and the Gamma platforms, as well as brake components for the
GMT-560, GMT-250, GMX-320, Ford U222, Nissan HS, Mercedes Benz M, and the GMT-
800 platforms.
Commitment to Growth
"We are committed to further growth in order to return increasing value to
our shareholders and to provide the best possible service to our OEM
customers," Mr. Madero told the conference delegates. "SANLUIS is now
experiencing excellent financial results. We are also performing on our
commitment to reduce the debt we accumulated to fund the expansion of our
production capacity. This will allow us to continue to grow both organically
and through acquisitions. We have demonstrated not only that we know how to
grow - which is hard enough in this industry - but that we know how to manage
that growth, providing high quality products and excellent service to our
customers as well as good opportunities to our investors," he concluded.
SANLUIS Corporacion S.A. de C.V. (BMV: SANLUIS) consists of SANLUIS
Rassini and Luismin. SANLUIS Rassini, which generates more than 85% of the
Company's revenues, is a leading manufacturer of highly engineered suspension
systems and brake components for the world's OEMs. Luismin is one of the
world's lowest cost producers of gold and silver.