Development and diversification
Pedro Brescia Cafferata assumed control of the group when he was 31 years old, and Mario became his right arm when he turned 23 years old. Their sisters Ana María and Rosa were, at that time, 27 and 25 years, respectively, and although they were considered in the big decisions (by Pedro's mandate, everything was decided by consensus), they never got involved in the day-to-day business. Pedro and Mario decided to give strength to the real estate business, which is reflected in the title of the thesis made by Pedro: “How to lot a ranch for residential use?" This was focused on the lotting of the San Borja ranch.
Despite the push made in the real estate business, the brothers sought new opportunities and investments. They were admitted into the fishing business by acquiring the companies Tecnológica de Alimentos, Costa Mar and Indo Mar. In addition, their diversification led them to develop the mining business, so they took advantage of the quarries they inherited from their maternal grandfather, but his father Mr. Fortunato decided to close. They decided to reopen them, acquiring some new ones and creating Corporación Minera Patará.[11]
In 1963, Pedro launched the San Borja residential area on part of the grounds of his ranch, and shortly after it would follow the Monterrico residential area. Both are today residential areas of modern Lima. In 1964, AESA was created, the first firm that would be in charge of the group's businesses, and the next year it entered into the Rímac shareholding, an important leap in its plan to diversify the group and learn from other entrepreneurs.
When everything seemed to be going well, the political power touched the group business. In 1968, the Military Government of General Juan Velasco Alvarado passed the Agrarian Reform Law that snatched their agricultural lands in the valleys of Supe, Huaura, Chincha, and the urban land expansion territories in the basins of the Surco and Ate rivers. However, their lands in south Limatambo, Valverde and Naranjal were not touched. In addition to these seizures, the Government in 1973 then decided to nationalize fishing activity[12] and took control of Tecnológica de Alimentos, which by that time already had a share of 4% of the fishing activity in Peru.
This nationalization policy of the economy, although it meant a financial loss for the nascent Brescia group, it also opened the door to new opportunities since the Government had ordered that the industry, mining, banking and insurance, traditionally dominated by foreign capital, must necessarily have local partners. The foreign capital, on the other hand, could not have more than 20% of the shareholding in the companies dedicated to those sectors.
In this position, when foreign investors were forced to reduce their participation, the Brescia group acquired 4% of the Banco de Crédito del Perú company and 27% of the Banco de Lima company. In 1977, they would perform a similar operation and achieved major participation in the Minsur mining company. In parallel, they dabbled in the tourism sector when acquiring the hotels manager Intursa company. By the end of the seventies decade, the Brescia group acquired the Compañía Peruana de Pinturas (CPP) and the fabric factory La Unión.
