THE CAPITAL ACCESS EDGE
The big-and-small theme resonates throughout this year´s 500 coverage. Sector profiles on the pages following the directory compare the challenges and resources available to large and smaller companies in each sector. Consensus result: Large companies have better access to capital and can weather slow times better than smaller companies. But for both big and small, growth tends to produce further growth.
FORMER 500 COMPANIES LOSE MINORITY STATUS
Since 2004, nine companies on the Hispanic Business 500 have dropped off the list because their Hispanic ownership fell below the required threshold of 51 percent. In three cases, the founders or their families sold stock in public companies; the remainder involved strategic acquisitions by non-Hispanic corporations.
At Perry Ellis (also known as Supreme International), CEO George Feldenkreis sold 461,525 shares in 2004, while COO Oscar Feldenkreis sold 200,000 shares. In a statement, the CEO said that the stock sale was for tax and estate planning.
In 2005, founder Guillermo Bron sold 3.45 million shares of United PanAm Financial. According to a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission when the shares were sold, "proceeds from the sale are to be distributed to the limited partners in a liquidating distribution. None of the proceeds will be distributed to Mr. Bron or any affiliate of Mr. Bron." The filing shows that Mr. Bron continues to own more than 6 million shares of United PanAm.
In the past several years CEO Efraim Grinberg and brother Alex have divested shares of Movado Group, presided over by their father, Chairman Gedalio Grinberg. The company fell off the 500 in 2004.
The other companies that dropped off the directory were acquired in industries as diverse as automotive manufacturing (Uni Boring and Sunland Park Pontiac), government contracting (The Cube Corp., whose CEO Jack Mencia won the Hispanic Business magazine EOY® Award for entrepreneurial achievement in 2001), high tech (Network Architechs and Maya Telecom), and market research (Aguirre International).
Together, the nine companies removed $963.7 million in revenues from the 500. Fortunately, growth of other Hispanic enterprises and companies new to the list have more than compensated for the loss.
| FIRMS FROM 2004/2005 LISTS NO LONGER 51 PERCENT HISPANIC-OWNED | |||||
| COMPANY | SECTOR | CEO | LOCATION | LAST LISTED | # ON LIST |
| Aguirre International | Surveys &Amp; Program Evaluation | Edward Aguirre | Burlingame, CA | 2005 | 303 |
| The Cube Corp. | Construction Engineering Svcs. | Juan Mencia | Sterling, VA | 2005 | 52 |
| Maya Telecom | Telecom Equipment | Ileana Dimario | Lake Mary, FL | 2005 | 485 |
| Movado Group Inc. | Luxury Watches | Efraim Grinberg | Lyndhurst, NJ | 2004 | 14 |
| Network Architechs | Internetworking Svcs./Hardware | Michael French | Albuquerque, NM | 2005 | 221 |
| Supreme International (Perry Ellis) |
Men's Apparel Design & Wholesaling |
George Feldenkreiss | Miami, FL | 2005 | 7 |
| Sunland Park | Pontiac Automotive Sales &Amp; Svc. | Hector Rico | El Paso, TX | 2005 | 94 |
| Uni Boring Co. Inc. | Automotive Powertrain Mfg. | Facundo Bravo | Howell, MI | 2005 | 32 |
| United Panam Financial Corp. | Financial Services | Guillermo Bron | Los Angeles, CA | 2005 | 41 |
| Source: HispanTelligence® | |||||
