Mexico courts pension funds with projects worth US$31.4bn

The government of Mexico has called on the country's 10 pension fund management companies, known as afores, to consider investment opportunities arising from infrastructure and energy projects being developed by the public sector under the Mexico Plan, according to BNamericas. President Claudia Sheinbaum presented the Mexico Plan at the start of 2025 to promote public and private investment in infrastructure and energy and to encourage local manufacturing and national content in production chains.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the Mexican Association of Pension Fund Administrators (Amafore), Finance and Public Credit Secretary Edgar Amador said the government needs to "mobilize national savings toward projects that increase Mexico's productive capacity." He pointed to the long investment horizons of the afores and the returns such projects could generate as attractive for increasing resources allocated to Mexican workers' retirement. Amador said the government plans to invest 580,000 million pesos (about US$31.4bn) in various projects next year, including 150,000 million pesos for passenger rail, 35,000 million pesos for highways, roads, bridges and interchanges, and 22,000 million pesos for water projects. Pemex and the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) also have significant planned investments of 255,000 million pesos and 71,000 million pesos, respectively.

The government's broader aim is to raise total investment to the equivalent of 28% of GDP by 2030, from the current 25%. In April 2026, lawmakers approved the Law for the Promotion of Investment in Strategic Infrastructure for Development with Wellbeing, intended to provide greater legal certainty to investors, the financial system and companies participating in major infrastructure and energy projects. Amador stressed that the invitation is not an instruction for fund managers to invest, and that the goal is to offer more options so administrators can identify projects that serve savers' interests.

Afore president Guillermo Zamarripa said the managers were receptive to the proposal, but conditioned capital deployment on addressing concerns about legal and financial certainty, particularly financing structures and contract terms. He emphasized dispute-resolution mechanisms and a clear allocation of risks, including who bears which risk and what return investors receive. Currently, pension funds access infrastructure and energy projects through private debt, FIBRAS (real estate investment trusts), Development Capital Certificates (CKD) and Fiduciary Stock Certificates for Investment Projects (CERPI). Amador agreed that each investment must undergo its own financial, legal, operational and risk assessment, and that protecting the assets of working people remains the priority.