When Adriana Ruano won Guatemala’s first-ever Olympic gold medal at the Paris Games in 2024, she achieved more than personal glory. Her triumph in trap shooting underscored a paradox: Guatemala had produced a world champion without having a single official trap shooting venue at home. In fact, a country of more than 18 million people had very few regulated sports facilities at all.
That is about to change. On the outskirts of Guatemala City, the Montesquieu Foundation is building the San Cristóbal Academics & Sports Campus, a landmark project that has captured international attention for both its ambition and its financing. It is this combination of vision and innovation that has earned the San Cristóbal project the Infrastructure Financing of the Year award for Central America.
“We built the project from zero, considering environmental, social and sustainability indicators, and a strong business model. We were accompanied by many allies to put together a very nice transaction,” says Andrés Ayau, investment banker and director of the Montesquieu Foundation.
The $58 million project brought together multiple layers of finance to overcome barriers that would have stopped most initiatives. IDB Invest, the private-sector arm of the Inter-American Development Bank, structured a $18.7 million senior loan with a 20-year tenor, creating the foundation for others to join. The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) added $11 million, while the Canadian Climate Fund for the Private Sector in the Americas (C2F2) contributed $7.5 million in concessional funding.
The project shows how private initiative, development finance, and concessional climate funding can converge to deliver high-impact infrastructure in challenging markets. It sets a precedent for future projects by proving that long-term financing, blended resources, and public-private partnerships can transform societies.
That concessional tranche played a decisive role. Guatemala is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, and resilience measures — from flood control to landslide mitigation — required extra capital expenditure. Without concessional support, these enhancements could have rendered the project financially unviable. The climate fund bridged the gap by absorbing the added costs and offering interest rate incentives tied to gender and inclusion goals.
The project also became one of the first in the Americas to obtain the FAST-Infra Sustainable Infrastructure Label, verifying its alignment with international sustainability benchmarks.
The financing had to be as innovative as the project itself. The campus is being built on land ceded by the Guatemalan Olympic Committee, which could not be pledged as collateral. The solution was the creation of two special project vehicles and a 50-year usufruct agreement, a structure that ensured bankability while preserving public ownership.
“This was a very long process. We started working on it in 2017 and IDB Invest got interested in 2021. Looking back, it might not seem complicated, but it was very complex, with lots of challenges that had to be overcome. Everyone thought outside the box and put in all they had to make this happen,” says Ayau.
BLP, acting as counsel to the lenders, advised on everything from legal due diligence to the negotiation of usufruct agreements and the drafting of local financing documents, helping navigate a highly regulated structure involving public land, education, and sports.
The San Cristóbal campus is designed to transform Guatemalan education and athletics. Once complete in 2027, it will house classrooms for 1,400 preschool through high school students and a university campus for 10,000 students across 20 degree programs, including business, engineering, and applied sports science. Ten percent of the student body will receive scholarships through an agreement with the Olympic Committee.
Athletics will be equally central. Facilities for 18 sports will be built to international standards — from field hockey, which will boast the largest installation in Central America, to a world-class trap shooting center that will finally provide Ruano and her successors a home field. National sports federations, including the shooting federation, will relocate to the campus.
“Everything we are building will have international certification, which is something that does not exist in Guatemala,” says Ayau. “This will allow us to host regional, continental and even international events. We are creating a platform to provide education and training from kids to athletes.”
The project also integrates indigenous and gender inclusion programs, scholarships for low-income students, and psychosocial support to help young athletes balance academic and sporting life. By combining academics, culture, and Olympic-grade sports in one hub, the San Cristóbal campus represents a new model for social infrastructure in Central America.
Infrastructure Financing of the Year: Central America
San Cristóbal Academics & Sports Campus
$37.2 million Project Financing: $18.7 million in senior loan (IDB Invest); $7.5 million loan (C2F-II); $11 million loan (CABEI)
Sponsor: Fundación Montesquieu
Lenders: CABEI; Canada Climate Fund for the Private Sector in the Americas (C2F-II); IDB Invest
Legal Counsel to Sponsor: DeConsulta Asesores Legales
Legal Counsel to Lenders: BLP Legal; Paul Hastings
All supporting financial institutions and law firms were transmitted to LatinFinance by the award category winners. For updates please email awards@latinfinance.com