MEXICO CITY - Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim said Monday that his companies plan to invest $8.3 billion in 19 Latin American countries, mainly in Brazil and Mexico.
Slim, considered the world's richest man, said he will put about $2.5 billion into Brazil - the region's largest market - and invest $3.7 billion in Mexico.
Part of the Mexico outlay includes about $1.6 billion in America Movil, Latin America's largest phone service provider. Another $2.1 billion will go toward Slim's other retail and construction businesses in Mexico, including $1.1 billion in his infrastructure company, IDEAL.
Most of the Brazil investment will be in the telecommunications area, he said. The remaining funds will be invested across the region.
Slim told reporters he hopes his investments will eventually bring broadband Internet access to two out of three Mexicans, as well as two out of every three people in areas of Latin America where America Movil operates.
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Another project will aim to create a virtual technological university in Mexico this year so that young people can study for a degree via the Internet, he said.
Slim said investors who shy away from Mexico because of widespread drug-related violence risk missing out on a market with low interest rates and rising expectations.
"Whoever does not invest for various reasons - fear, caution or whatever - is going to be left behind," he said.
Separately Monday, President Felipe Calderón's office announced that InterContinental Hotels Group will invest $500 million in Mexico over the next three years in 47 hotel projects, with about 5,000 rooms.
Slim gets richer as portfolio beats stock returns for Gates, Buffett
Carlos Slim's Mexican holdings from mining to communications helped him beat Bill Gates and Warren Buffett on the stock market for the second straight year, and gains in 2011 may widen his lead atop the global wealth list.
Slim's publicly disclosed holdings surged about 37 percent to $70 billion in 2010, with wireless carrier America Movil representing $48.9 billion of that wealth, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
A 22 percent jump in Berkshire Hathaway shares wasn't enough for Buffett to catch up, and Gates' Microsoft fell, hurting his returns even as he spread his investments to other companies. The data compiled by Bloomberg didn't include the money the billionaires have given to charities, including the Gates Foundation.