Life and times Francisco Macri

1 life , times

1.1 childhood in italy
1.2 arrival in argentina
1.3 leading contractor
1.4 ventures , misadventures
1.5 legacy

life , times
childhood in italy

franco macri born in rome, giorgio macri , lea garbini. mother belonged prosperous local family, proprietors of intercity bus service , supporters of fascist dictator benito mussolini. father, in turn, born family of fallen nobility calabria region of italy. opponents of il duce, kinship powerful pellicano clan allowed them retain small postal service carrier in area around san giorgio morgeto. eight-year-old franco , 2 younger siblings sent military school in 1938, following parents divorce 2 years earlier, common fate children of divorced couples under italian fascism; reunited father in genoa 5 years later.

arrival in argentina

the birth of italian republic prompted giorgio macri enter politics, co-founded nationalist party, l uomo qualunque ( common man ), ahead of general elections in june 1946; following party s poor showing, however, departed buenos aires, settling in western suburb of san justo. later obtained housing in eva perón foundation s ciudad evita community, , joined 3 children in january 1949. franco macri found work in construction laborer; promoted , held administrative post within year, later earning secondary school diploma @ colegio nacional de buenos aires and, in 1950, establishing construction firm, urbana.

obtaining number of small, public contracts, urbana failed, , macri entered partnership, vimac, in 1953. firm boosted lucrative contract loma negra, leading argentine cement producer, construction of new plant near tandil in 1955. married alicia blanco villegas, daughter of prominent tandil physician, in 1958, relocated mar del plata, , had first of 4 children, mauricio, in 1959.

leading contractor

macri started home builder, demaco, , purchased tony buenos aires apartment facing vicente lópez plaza (in heart of upscale recoleta district). 1962 installation of ultraconservative economy minister alvaro alsogaray, however, , latter s policy of paying state contractors , employees worthless ninth of july bonds led vimac s closure.

joined 2 investors , aided economic recovery, in 1964 fused demaco remains of vimac establish impresit-sideco. firm secured coveted contract italian automaker fiat, construction , maintenance of caseros factory, , became leading public works contractor, notably in construction of general belgrano bridge, atucha , embalse nuclear power plants (latin america s first), in private works, such agip gas pipeline , catalinas norte office park.

inheriting father s interest in film (the elder macri had worked iconic cinecittà studios), established mbc, produced cinema local directors leopoldo torre nilsson , alejandro doria, among others.

having had completed on 30 major public works projects worth on us$1.8 billion since 1964, macri acquired philco , nec s argentine affiliates , gained controlling interest in impresit , established socma, holding company various interests, in 1976. installation of last dictatorship year, , appointment of buenos aires mayor osvaldo cacciatore led closure of city s tens of thousands of apartment building incinerators, noxious disposal of city s 3,000 daily tons of refuse had been worsening air quality decades. cacciatore had them replaced in 1979 curbside pickup service awarded manliba, consortium between impresit-sideco , waste management, inc.

macri s marriage ended in separation in 1980 (no provision existed in argentina divorce until 1987), , in 1982 married cristina cressier, whom had sixth child, florencia. collapse of argentine auto industry in 1981-82 allowed macri purchase controlling stake in sevel argentina s.a., local joint venture between fiat , peugeot formed in 1980. acquisition averted closure of european automakers argentine plants, , tripled socma s income.

macri s finances undermined, however, losses stemming banco de italia y río de la plata, of majority shareholder between 1975 , 1980. subsequent crisis, resulted implosion of economy minister josé alfredo martínez de hoz s financial deregulation , strong peso policies, prompted macri take advantage of exchange rate guarantee enacted central bank in 1980 large private borrowers facing sharply higher u.s. dollar payments, benefit granted sevel.

ventures , misadventures

he entered valuable real estate venture in new york, when in 1979, developer abraham hirschfeld sold him 75% stake in 30 hectares (75 acres) of hudson riverfront land formerly owned penn central. planning develop lincoln west, residential complex, macri invested us$100 million in mandated public works , related expenses, not, ultimately, service chase manhattan loan or meet city s myriad zoning demands, selling land donald trump in 1985 us$117 million.

the disappointment compounded heart attack in 1983, , end of second marriage in 1986, lost custody of florencia. suffered serious losses during country s repeated currency crises between 1987 , 1990, gained partnership bellsouth , motorola form movicom, first large-scale argentine mobile phone service provider.

a supporter of la rioja province governor carlos menem ahead of upset victory in 1988 justicialist party primaries, macri broke flomboyant president when, after 1989 election (which won on populist platform), pursued aggressive free trade policies undermined sevel (by largest automaker in argentina) in favor of cheaper imports. carlos grosso, menem s appointed mayor of buenos aires (a presidential prerogative until 1996), managerial employee of macri s. vocal peronist, grosso had reportedly been spared becoming 1 of disappeared upon 1978 military abduction macri s appeal on behalf internal affairs minister albano harguindeguy , apostolic nuncio pio laghi.

the family shaken august 23, 1991, kidnapping of mauricio macri, franco macri s eldest son. freed after 2 weeks in captivity reported ransom of us$6 million, macri s abduction executed 4 members of policía federal argentina, has policing purview on buenos aires (the perpetrators located decade later).

sevel, socma group s centerpiece @ time, benefitted boom touched of economy minister domingo cavallo s convertibility plan in 1991, seeing auto sales grow 30,000 in 1990 200,000 in 1994. local auto industry hit hard, however, mexican peso crisis. fall in sales 130,000 led company divest of fiat licence in 1996, , sevel revenues fell half, us$1.1 billion. during menem-era wholesale privatization drive, macri outmaneuvered in 1997 bid management of nation s 33 main airports eduardo eurnekian, though socma sold national postal service in july 1997. sevel liquidated, rescinding peugeot licence in march 2000, argentine economic crisis, , socma group s global revenues fell us$4.5 billion in 1994 us$2 billion in 2001. following sevel s liquidation, macri convicted of customs duty evasion relating auto export-import scheme via neighboring uruguay.

legacy

macri, fan of boca juniors football club since 1950s, has had commercial relationship long, dating 1960 partnership in small insurance firm club s president @ time, alberto armando. leveraged promote elder son, mauricio, president of club in 1992, though defeated incumbent, antonio alegre (credited saving club insolvency in 1980s). macri elected in 1995, however, , caused controversy earmarking multi-million dollar renovation of bombonera stadium, , granting contract impresit (macri s construction firm).

florencia, macri s youngest daughter, kidnapped on april 30, 2003, , freed week later after ransom of million dollars reportedly paid. federal postal service contract socma, through correos argentinos, rescinded, citing company s debt taxpayers of us$296 million. pago fácil, electronic funds transfer service operated socma, became 1 of group s leading firms, processing on 7 million payments month. among group s significant real estate developments after 2004 mulieris towers, in buenos aires puerto madero district.

macri returned auto industry in 2007, when obtained licensing produce chery automobiles, parts, assembled in uruguay. son, mauricio, elected mayor of buenos aires in 2007, , in 2008, 78-year-old macri divested socma of 2 of important firms, iecsa (construction) , creaurban (real estate), in favor of angelo calcaterra, nephew. chery socma, joint venture chinese automaker, exported first units in september 2009.

macri published reflection on over half-century argentine businessman, el futuro es posible, in 2004; still keeps suitcase arrived in argentina in 1949.