Sura Asset management & Credicorp Capital Lauch Investment Vehicle To Fund Colombia’s 4G Highway Infrastructure Program

Medellín based SURA Asset Management and Peru’s Credicorp Capital  have announced a strategic alliance creating a new fund in order to invest  $1.3 billion COP (approximately $400 million USD) in Colombia’s “fourth generation” (4G) roadway infrastructure projects.

The professional manager of the newly created fund is a company incorporated under equal shares by both entities that have each contributed capital amounting to $150,000 million COP ($48 million USD). Sumatoria Gestión de Activos SAS will be in charge of the fund management, with one of its partners, Mario Dib, an expert in the field of roadway infrastructure, leading the structuring and project management in which the fund will participate.
Andrés Castro, the CEO of SURA Asset Management Latin America said: “Colombia has initiated an ambitious roadway infrastructure development that requires high investment. We are firmly committed to help accelerate the financing of these large infrastructure projects that will certainly contribute to national development by enhancing its competitiveness at regional level.”

The fund’s investors include pension funds, insurance companies and the International Financial Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank. “This investment will be decisive in order to finance infrastructure and to develop the capital market in Colombia”, said Carlos Pinto, the IFC head for the Andean Region. “This new fund will help overcome one of the key challenges that Colombia is facing today and illustrates the role of IFC in finding solutions intended to finance infrastructure projects that a critical for emerging economies.”
Christian Laub, CEO of Credicorp Capital, added: “Channeling resources from the private sector to infrastructure projects not only leads to an adequate return for investors, but also to high social returns. Therefore, it is critical to have very solid teams for investment decisions, joining the talents and experience of Credicorp Capital and SURA Asset Management.”
The Credicorp Capital / SURA Asset Management 4G private equity investment fund is based on the ambitious roadway infrastructure modernization project in Colombia that requires investment which, at present value, exceeds $50 billion COP. These resources will be allocated among 40 projects and will finance over 7,000 kilometers of highways.

Colombia’s Finance Minister Mauricio Cardenas

Colombia’s Finance Minister, Mauricio Cardenas said, regarding the fund launch, “We jointly launched a fund amounting to $1.3 billion with SURA (Colombia) Credicorp (Peru) and NDF IFC, intended to finance the Fourth Generation (4G) infrastructure program, which will add 0.4 percentage points to the economic growth of Colombia, and most importantly, will generate formal, quality employment for Colombians.”
SURA Asset Management is a subsidiary of SURA Group along with five minority shareholders: International Financial Corporation (IFC) – a member of the World Bank Group, Bolivar Group, Bancolombia, International Investment Fund – General Atlantic, and Wiese Group. a Latin American company with operations in pensions, savings and investments in Mexico, Peru, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay and El Salvador. As of September 2015, SURA Asset Management’s AUM (Assets Under Management) amounted to $102.6 billion USD.
Credicorp Capital is the regional investment banking, capital markets, trust and asset management arm of Credicorp Ltd. in Colombia, Peru, Chile and the US. Credicorp Capital manages over$8.85 billion USD of liquid and alternative assets as of October 2015.

Headline photo: highway between Bogotá and Villavicencio – credit: Loren Moss