Please wait
January
19, 2007
Ms.
Pamela A. Long
Assistant
Director
Securities
and Exchange Commission
Division
of Corporation Finance
100
F.
Street, N.E.
Washington,
D.C. 20549
Re:
Grupo
Simec, S.A.B. de C.V.
Registration
Statement on Form F-1
File
No.
333-138239
Dear
Ms.
Long:
We
are
responding to your
comment letter dated January 16, 2007 concerning your review of pre-effective
amendment no. 2 to the Form F-1 registration statement of Grupo Simec, S.A.B.
de
C.V. (the “Company”) that it filed on January 8, 2007 (the “Form
F-1”).
Under
the same numbers and headings as in your comment letter, the Company has
responded to each of your comments as set forth below.
General
| 1. |
We
have reviewed your response to our prior comment one. However, it
still
appears that your filing contains references to experts. For example,
on
pages F-13 and F-18, you refer to independent appraisals. Please
revise as
appropriate.
|
The
Company has deleted the remaining references to any expert who has not filed
a
consent to the Form F-1. The Company has also deleted the remaining references
to independent appraisals.
Description
of Capital Stock, page 103
| 2. |
We
reissue comment 7 of December 29, 2006
letter.
|
We
have
made the requested deletion in this section.
Taxation
of Dividends
Mexican
Tax Considerations, page 122
| 3. |
Supplementally,
please tell us what consideration you have given to filing a tax
opinion
with respect to the tax consequences discussed in this
section.
|
Taxation
of Dispositions of Shares or ADSs
Mexican
Tax Considerations, page 123
| 4. |
Supplementally,
please tell us what consideration you have given to filing a tax
opinion
with respect to the tax consequences discussed in this
section.
|
In
response to your comments 3 and 4, the Company has reconsidered the tax
consequences discussed in these two sections and discussed them with its Mexican
counsel. Based on these deliberations, the Company believes that the Mexican
tax
treatment of an investment in the Series B shares or ADSs is substantially
the
same as for the common shares or ADSs of any Mexican company. The Company’s
Mexican counsel has advised the Company that the descriptions included here
involve well-established provisions and interpretations of the Mexican income
tax law (Ley
del Impuesto Sobre la Renta),
and
that the relevant legal principles are not controversial and not likely to
be
subject to conflicting interpretation. The Company and its Mexican counsel
also
believe that other Mexican tax advisors would reach the same conclusions after
analyzing these provisions of the income tax law. The Company also notes that
similar descriptions of Mexican tax consequences have been included in a number
of recent registration statements for offerings by Mexican issuers, and in
those
instances the registrants also did not file tax opinions. For all of these
reasons, the Company has concluded that it would not need to file a tax
opinion.
Legal
Opinion
| 5. |
Please
disclose the number of shares being registered in this
offering.
|
We
have
refiled the opinion with these changes.
| 6. |
Please
delete the term “completeness” in the last sentence of the second
paragraph of this opinion.
|
We
have
refiled the opinion with these changes.
Note
14, Acquisitions, page F-37
| 7. |
We
note your response to our previous comment 10. In order to allow
for
greater transparency, please revise your disclosure to include the
amount
of the fair value of the net assets and the amount of negative goodwill.
In addition, as previously requested, please disclose the specific
facts
and circumstances that resulted in a material amount of negative
goodwill.
|
The
Company has revised Note 14 to its audited financial statements to disclose
the
fair value of net assets and the amount of negative goodwill. The Company has
further disclosed that the factors that led to the negative goodwill include
the
low purchase price that the Company paid to the seller who was a short-tem
investor who had acquired Republic out of bankruptcy. The acquisition price
resulted from negotiations that the Company carried out with the previous owner
based on the business expectations for Republic at that time, having recently
emerged from bankruptcy, and this acquisition price was less than the sum of
the
net fair values of the individual assets acquired and the liabilities assumed,
resulting in negative goodwill.
* * *
Should
you have any questions or require any further information, please feel free
to
contact me at any time at (212) 912-7446 or Marc Rossell at (212)
912-7430.
Sincerely,
/s/
Walter G. Van Dorn, Jr.
Walter
G.
Van Dorn, Jr.
cc:
Craig
Slivka
Patricia
Armelin
Paul
Dudek,
Securities
and Exchange Commission
Luis
García Limón
José
Flores Flores,
Grupo
Simec, S.A.B. de C.V.
Michael
L. Fitzgerald
Taisa
Markus,
Milbank,
Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP
Marc
M.
Rossell
Amelia
G.
Baker,
Thacher
Proffitt & Wood LLP