Alfa S.A.B. de C.V., also known as Alfa, was the seventh largest company of Mexico in 2013 according to CNN Expansión.^[1] and once a Mexican multinational conglomerate headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico, underwent a corporate simplification process to transition from a conglomerate into a pure play consumer packaged goods business.

Currently, Alfa operates through Sigma, a leading multinational food company operating in 17 countries grouped in 4 regions: Mexico, Europe, U.S., and Latam. With 64 plants and 189 distribution centers, the company produces, commercializes, and distributes quality branded foods, including packaged meats, cheese, yogurts, and other refrigerated and frozen foods. Sigma's diversified portfolio includes more than 100 brands in different categories and market segments such as: FUD, Campofrio, Bar-S, San Rafael, Aoste, La Villita, Fiorucci, Chimex, Navidul, Justin Bridou y Sosua, among other.

Alfa is listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange and the Latibex, the Latin American market in the Madrid Stock Exchange. It is a constituent of the IPC, the main benchmark index of the Mexican Stock Exchange, and of the S&P Latin America 40, which includes leading, blue chip companies from Latin America.

The Monterrey Group empire derived from the founding in Monterrey of Cerveceria Cuauhtemoc, a brewery, in 1890 by Jose Calderon Penilla, Isaac Garza Garza, and two others. In 1936 the family holdings, already vast, were divided into two separate industrial groups. One of these, Valores Industriales S.A. (Visa), established Hojalata y Laminas S.A. (Hylsa) to make steel sheet for the bottle caps of its beverages during World War II, when the United States cut steel supplies to Mexico to meet its own needs. Hylsa became the largest privately run steel mill in Mexico, a fully integrated complex with activities ranging from mining and processing iron ore to finished products. In 1957 it patented HyL, a system of direct reduction known as fire sponging.

One of the two heads Eugenio Garza Sada, of the Monterrey Group, was murdered in 1973 in what was described as an abortive kidnapping by left-wing terrorists, but before this happened, he and his brother Roberto Garza Sada had divided the company into two parts. Bernardo Garza Sada, Roberto's son, became chairman of Grupo Industrial Alfa, S.A., which inherited Hylsa and many other industrial enterprises, including Empaques de Carton Titan, a packaging company founded in 1926; Nylon de Mexico (synthetic fibers), founded in 1952; and Polioles (chemicals), founded in 1962. "There is no falling out", one source explained to The New York Times. "But there was a real problem as to who would be next 'supreme,' so they juggled the shares within the family and divided the group."

Under Bernardo Garza Sada's leadership Alfa diversified from its base into petrochemicals, synthetic fibers, capital machinery, farm equipment, television sets, and tourism. It also took a quarter share in Grupo Televisa, which virtually monopolized Mexican television broadcasting. Its assets grew from $315 million to $1.5 billion between 1974 and 1978, its sales from $194 million to $836 million, and its income from $21 million to $83 million. In 1978 Alfa was the only Mexican company in the Fortune 500 list of the biggest companies outside the United States, except for state-owned Petroleos de Mexico (Pemex). Himself a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Garza Sada staffed top management with graduates of MIT, Harvard, and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. One observer said they "always picked the kid with the Harvard MBA over the guy who really knew the business. The Alfa man had to look good on paper."

Although Alfa formed joint ventures with Hercules and American Petrofina to produce polyester, Du Pont to produce other synthetic fibers, Ford to turn out aluminum cylinder heads, and Hitachi to make electric motors, it insisted on control. "We manage these ventures, always", Garza Sada told Forbes in 1979. "We demand that!" Alfa received $2.4 billion in loans from more than 130 foreign creditors and was planning to invest $3.5 billion by the end of 1984, almost three-fifths of it in money to be borrowed, mostly from sources outside Mexico. It was not only the leading private firm in Mexico but in all of Latin America. By 1980 it had 157 subsidiaries in 39 branches of the economy.

In retrospect, following Alfa's near-bankruptcy in 1982, Alfa's success bred arrogance. Many of the lower-management people had no practical experience, while the experienced upper management took charge of firms about which they knew very little. The company unwisely abandoned its prudent traditional policy of only integrating firms that had similar or complementary products. One observer said that Alfa "bought businesses like someone would buy candies for their children." A foreign bank representative recalled, "They were on the same kind of role that the Mexican government was on then. Oil prices would know no limit. Grupo Alfa profits would know no limit."