Real estate GPs raise $730m from Mexican pensions

About Ps.$36.4 billion (€2.3 billion; $3 billion) has been raised since July 2008 through a new kind of security for investment in Mexico, according to figures released by the Mexican National Commission for the Pension System, including Ps.$8.8 billion or $730 million by three real estate funds.

The securities, called certificados de capital de desarrollo, or CKDs, allow Mexican pensions to invest in  real estate, infrastructure and private equity funds via publicly listed trusts. Other investors can purchase CKDs in these offerings, but the commission said Mexican pensions had invested about 90 percent of the Ps.$36.4 billion raised.

Three offerings took place last month alone: Navix, a debt fund that collected Ps.$4 billion; I Cuadrada, an infrastructure fund associated with the Black Creek Group that raised Ps.$2.7 billion; and Marhnos, a Mexican developer and concessionaire that raised Ps.$1 billion.

The commission said in a statement “investment in instruments like CKDs” creates jobs and economic growth for the country – a key priority for Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

Industrial fund manager and REIT, AMB, was the first firm to raise a real estate CKD in July, raising Ps.$3.3 billion in equity, 81 percent of it from the country's pension funds. That was followed in August by PLA Inmuebles Industriales, a fund from Prudential Real Estate Investors, which raised Ps. $3.1 billion, 80.6 percent of its from Mexican pensions. Artha Capital raised Ps. $2.4 billion for its Artha Operadora fund that same month, targeting housing, tourism, commercial and industrial real estate projects. Just over 60 percent of the equity was invested by pensions.

One of the earliest groups to raise money through CKDs was Red de Carreteras del Occidente, co-owned by Goldman Sachs and ICA. Red de Carreterras del Occidente raised about Ps.$7.8 billion via these certificates in October 2009. Ninety-seven percent of that money was invested by pensions, according to the commission.