Miami-based private equity investor Latin America Real Assets Opportunity Fund aims to raise $750 million by the end of next year for infrastructure and energy prospects in the region’s smaller economies, which are being overlooked by global investors, according to managing partner Mauricio Claver-Carone.
The fund, which was set up 10 months ago, will make its first close for around $75 million this year, and is about to wrap up its first investment in Ecuador’s logistics sector, he told LatinFinance in an interview.
Claver-Carone, a former US Treasury official who served as president of the Inter-American Development Bank from 2020 to 2022, said the fund plans to avoid the crowded markets of Mexico and Brazil to target smaller economies in the region. It has its eyes on strategic infrastructure assets, such as warehouses, ports, airports, as well as data centers and energy projects.
“For big global allocators, Latin America is not on their radar — they just don’t care,” he said. “We’re raising $750 million and we’re headed towards our first close about 10% of that in a very difficult fundraising market. We have a first close anchor investor that’s committed. Things have very good momentum.”
Keen to avoid foreign-exchange losses, the fund, which is known as LARA, focuses on economies that are dollarized, such as Ecuador and Panama, or that have stable currencies, he said.
“The only countries where we are willing to take currency risk are Chile, Colombia and Peru, because they are in a good place in their cycle. Assets are undervalued and there are great opportunities,” said Claver-Carone, who was a White House adviser during the Trump administration and also represented the US on the executive board of the International Monetary Fund.
He said LARA, which is backed by Miami-based Hudson Sustainable Group, may also make an investment in data centers in Panama this year and is evaluating port and energy projects in Colombia and Chile.