If you were worried that the drama surrounding our most recent election — the one in which a reality star who was fired by NBC for being a racist went on to win the presidency — was over, you can go ahead and breathe that sigh of relief (or utter terror) now. It looks like the fallout from a Trump administration is just beginning. And it’s hitting you right in your liquor cabinet! Sorry, tequila lovers: Jose Cuervo is very worried about its financial future.
According to CNBC, Jose Cuervo (which is the world’s biggest producer of the liquor you drink when you’re feeling “just a little wild”) has delayed its IPO, a business move that could have netted the company somewhere around one billion dollars. Unfortunately, due to Trump’s victory — and what that could mean for the Mexican stock exchange, as well as currency — the company has chosen not to go public until the market has stabilized (which will be easier to evaluate come January) and Trump decides what he’s going to do about NAFTA. The President Elect’s remarks on the trade agreement is what caused several major Mexican companies to go down in valuation since Trump was elected in early November.
Jose Cuervo had been waiting for the U.S. presidential election to launch its IPO, hoping volatility on the Mexican Stock Exchange would subside. Instead, the market became more choppy. The Mexico IPC stock index has lost more than 7 percent of its value since the U.S. election.
“A big part of the uncertainty that is reflected in economic variables has to do with the great uncertainty about the economic policies that will be taken by the new administration in the United States,” Mexican Central Bank Deputy Governor Manuel Sanchez said in an interview with Reuters this week about the future of the Mexican central policy.
If the company doesn’t file soon — before the end of February — there are likely to be even more delays (although, hopefully not a downswing in tequila production when we need it most). The company will have to update its plans and disclose new earning figures to their investors before any more IPO proceedings can take place.
