BlackRock Jostles Rivals Like Apollo in Bid for Mexican Projects

A flare tower at a Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) refinery in Paraiso, Tabasco state, Mexico. Photo by Isabel Mateos Hinojosa /Photographer: Isabel Mateos Hino

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(Bloomberg) — From its perch in one of Mexico City’s priciest office towers, overlooking the capital’s sprawling Chapultepec Park, BlackRock Inc. has its sights set on the country’s buildout.

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Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum is pushing to attract more private-sector investment in a bid to generate jobs and aid the sluggish economy. And BlackRock, with its new and massive business Global Infrastructure Partners, has been showing up. It’s competing against the world’s biggest asset managers, including Apollo Global Management Inc., which plans to inject $20 billion into projects in Mexico, including infrastructure deals.

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As it vies to get ahead of its rivals, BlackRock’s chief executive officer, Larry Fink, has been putting in face time with Mexico’s top leadership. The CEO, alongside the head of GIP, met with Sheinbaum in the presidential palace in April to discuss her infrastructure plan to invest 5.6 trillion Mexican pesos (about $320 billion) through the end of her term in 2030. It was their second visit since she took office in late 2024.

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In June, Sergio Méndez, BlackRock’s country head, met with top officials from Sheinbaum’s government and other asset managers about how to design infrastructure investment vehicles, according to people at the talks who requested not to be identified because the event wasn’t public.

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Meanwhile, representatives from KKR & Co., Blackstone Inc., Macquarie Asset Management, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Mexico Infrastructure Partners and Alom Infra have also met with top officials from Mexico’s government.

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Sheinbaum’s infrastructure push has largely focused on energy projects to shore up the country’s electricity grid. In recent months, European, US and domestic developers have promised to inject billions of dollars into Mexico power projects, a pace of investment that has already eclipsed the total under Sheinbaum’s predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

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So far, though, officials have failed to deliver the types of big, multibillion-dollar projects sought by large asset managers, industry executives and bankers said. Still, BlackRock has managed to make some headway with some smaller projects.

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In June, GIP-owned Atlas Renewable Energy was selected for a major government contract to build a solar facility called Concepcion Mendizabal, named after the first woman in Mexico to earn an engineering degree, according to people familiar with the matter. The details of the agreement to build the facility in northern Mexico are being finalized, the people said.

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Two months earlier, mining and railroad conglomerate Grupo Mexico agreed to merge its electricity generation operations with BlackRock unit Saavi Energia. 

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BlackRock is searching for more acquisitions in Mexico’s consolidating power sector, according to other people familiar with the firm’s strategy, who requested not to be identified to speak freely. But those plans are no sure bet.

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Alternative asset managers are running up against Mexico’s nationalistic energy policy, which requires the government to retain majority control of such assets. Mexico mandates that the state-controlled Comision Federal de Electricidad, or CFE, maintain at least 54% ownership of power projects, a requirement that has impeded investments and interfered with US trade negotiations.