Chinese firms set to invest in Mexico's infrastructure push
Great Wall Asset Management is one of several firmsclose to investing US$450 million in infrastructure in the Latin American country
As President Xi Jinping leaves Latin America for the second time in almost 12 months with billions of dollars worth of freshly signed investment deals in hand, the groundwork he laid a year ago after a trip to Mexico is beginning to pay off.
A clutch of Chinese companies are in advanced talks to invest at least US$450 million in the country in the initial phase of an infrastructure-led spending spree that the Mexican government has calculated to be worth US$590 billion between this year and 2018.
About 40 per cent of that gigantic figure will come from the private sector, including foreign firms, and Gerardo Salazar, the chief executive of Banco Interacciones, the largest Mexican infrastructure bank, was negotiating hard to get deals done, he said.
China Great Wall Asset Management, a state-owned firm financed by the Ministry of Finance, was close to making a decision to set up a private equity fund in Mexico to invest in infrastructure there, with an initial fund size of US$150 million, Salazar said.
Great Wall Asset Management declined to comment.
Separately, Envision Energy is in the advanced stages of entering the Mexican market through renewable energy projects, specifically wind farms. These projects would represent a value of about US$150 million, Salazar said.