Colombia Taps Ashmore, Inverlink for Infrastructure

Colombia signed on Tuesday formal agreements to start a $500m-$700m infrastructure fund to be administered by Ashmore Investment Management and local firm Inverlink. “Infrastructure can’t be financed with public funds alone. There needs to be private investment,” Oscar Zuluaga, Colombia’s minister of finance, said at the signing ceremony on the last day of the IDB meetings. In an earlier interview, Colombian government officials decline to pinpoint likely recipient projects, but say the government has been receiving many viable proposals. They tell LatinFinance the fund, which will also receive sponsorship from the IDB, CAF and Bancoldex, will be open to all types of projects that offer strong returns and has the possibility to grow beyond $750m. Macquarie is serving as technical advisor.