Slim to Break Mexico Stock Drought With $1.4 Billion Sale

(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Carlos Slim’s construction company Promotora del Desarrollo de America Latina is planning the biggest public stock offering Mexico has seen in almost two years.

The company, known as Promotora Ideal, will sell 25.8 billion pesos ($1.4 billion) worth of shares in a Fibra E, a Mexican REIT-like structure that invests in infrastructure projects, according to a filing to Mexico’s stock exchange.

The sale is led by two Canadian funds owned by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, who bought a stake in Promotora Ideal’s parent company. The funds will retain small stakes in the Fibra E and Promotora Ideal will administer the Fibra E after it is issued. A Slim spokesman and spokespeople for the Canadian funds did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Juan Rich, head of research at Mexican brokerage Ve por Mas, said the listing could draw a lot of interest since Mexican benchmark interest rates are expected to keep falling, which boosts the appeal of the dividend yields of REIT-like investments.

“It is a good time to list a Fibra,” Rich said.

Slim’s Telesites, which own telecommunications towers, said earlier this month it was also exploring issuing a Fibra, but the company has not set a date or provided further details.

The Ideal offering is set to break a long dry spell in Mexican markets and is the first Fibra E to be listed since June 2018, when Administrador Fibraestructura raised $298 million. It is also the biggest offering in the country since Mexico City’s planned new airport project sold $1.5 billion in stock in a March 2018 IPO.

Uncertainty has surrounded the Mexican capital markets since the airport project was canceled by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador just seven months after the IPO. Carlos Slim’s companies had major contracts with the airport project, and the pension fund run by his bank, Grupo Financiero Inbursa, was a top investor in the airport Fibra. Sluggish economic growth and declining investment have also contributed to Mexico’s listing shortage.

Ideal’s listing will take place at some point this year, and Casa de Bolsa Credit Suisse will be the bookrunner.

--With assistance from Cyntia Barrera Diaz.

To contact the reporters on this story: Justin Villamil in Mexico City at jvillamil18@bloomberg.net;Michael O'Boyle in Mexico City at moboyle7@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Carolina Wilson at cwilson166@bloomberg.net, Scott Schnipper, Jennifer Bissell-Linsk

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