IFM Investors is making its first investment in Mexico through a 24.99 per cent stake in a toll road on the outskirts of Mexico City. The investment is predicated in part on the forecast that Mexico will become the world’s tenth largest economy by 2030 – it is currently in fifteenth place.

Julio Garcia, head of infrastructure North America at IFM Investors, believes this is an excellent first opportunity to invest in Mexico. He said: “The country has a young and growing population, a diversified economy with strong links to the United States, sound fiscal management with low fiscal deficits, low government debt, and controlled inflation.”

IFM Investors has agreed to pay $747 million for a stake in OPI who are responsible, via Conmex, for the operation of the CEM toll road. With a length of 111 km, the road constitutes the north-eastern section of Mexico City’s ring road and is located in a densely populated and industrial area with a high rate of motorisation. It has a remaining concession life of 37 years.

State Street recently forecast that super funds appetite for alternatives, including direct loans, hedge funds and infrastructure, will dramatically increase over the next three years as uncertainty continues to exist around global interest rates. Eighty-six per cent of Australian super funds surveyed by the Economist Intelligence Unit on behalf of State Street expect their appetite for such alternatives to grow, compared to a global figure of seventy-seven per cent.