Mexican Associations Push for More Private Investment
Despite numerous investor concerns private-equity investment continues to rise
MEXICO CITY—Mexican private-equity and real estate organizations see broad investment opportunities as the country navigates an economic slowdown and lingering uncertainty over trade relations with the U.S.
Despite some investor concerns about last year’s overhaul of the Mexican judicial system, trade tensions with the U.S., and next year’s review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, private-equity investment continues to rise.
Private-equity deals in the first half of this year exceeded 130, compared with 126 deals in the first half of 2024, said Pablo Coballasi, president of Mexican private-equity association Amexcap. In all of 2024, there were 230 transactions for $5.7 billion, more than twice as much as in 2023.
Amexcap and the Mexican association of real-estate investment trusts, Amefibra, as well as BIVA, the smaller of the country’s two stock exchanges, plan events as part of Mexico Investment Week in New York, where they aim to promote investment south of the border. Events run from Sept. 2-4.
Mexican pension-fund managers are a significant domestic source of investment in private-equity and real estate trusts, known in Mexico as FIBRAs. The U.S. accounts for about 80% of the international institutional investors in private equity, Coballasi said.
Mexico has benefited from trade tensions between the U.S. and China, and the integration of North America is becoming more critical for the U.S. and Mexican governments, he added.
Mexican investment indicators show a mixed performance in the first half of 2025.
Fixed investment through May was down 7% from the first five months of 2024, according to statistics institute Inegi, led by a big pullback in public spending as the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum seeks to rein in last year’s hefty election-year fiscal deficit.
Foreign direct investment has been buoyant, meanwhile, reaching a record $34.3 billion for the first six months according to preliminary data from the Economy Ministry. Of that, 84% was in reinvested profits and 9.2%, or $3.1 billion, was in new investments.
Trade levels have remained steady, with goods exports up 4.4% in the first six months of the year at $312.7 billion, and imports 0.2% higher at $311.3 billion, while the Mexican peso has appreciated 12% against the dollar since the end of December.
Although the Mexican economy is expected to see minimal growth this year, FIBRAs plan to develop around 2.5 million square meters of real estate, of which 60% to 70% is in the industrial sector, said Amefibra President Salvador Daniel.
Nearshoring remains an important theme, although tourism development is showing strong growth and office space is picking up after being the hardest-hit real-estate sector in the wake of the 2020 pandemic, Daniel said.
“There was a lot of office supply and that’s being consumed, the market is starting to look attractive,” he said.
Amexcap has noted investor interest in areas such as technology and telecommunications, health, education and real estate, which are growing much faster than the overall economy, Coballasi said.
That derives from the many needs the country has in those areas, he said. “The government is interested in closing these gaps, and we’re seeing the government favorably open to embracing private investment.”
https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/mexican-associations-push-for-more-private-investment-15d4c7c8