By Kylie Madry
MEXICO CITY, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Mexican real estate investment trusts could give investors a way to tap the country's manufacturing expansion and the infrastructure spillover from the global artificial intelligence boom, the head of exchange operator BIVA said ahead of the bourse's Mexico Investment Week events in New York, which begin on Wednesday.
Maria Ariza, chief executive of the Bolsa Institucional de Valores (BIVA), said Mexico's FIBRAs - tax-advantaged real estate investment
trusts - were an underappreciated vehicle for financing industrial parks, logistics assets and infrastructure needed to serve North American supply chains.
"Mexico has great opportunities, and this is one of the alternatives we see clearly to continue capturing interest and attracting capital," Ariza said in an interview.
Mexico is positioning itself as a manufacturing and export platform for the United States, despite uncertainty caused by the review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade pact.
In the first quarter of this year, Mexico exported $50 billion in computer and electronic equipment, nearly double the level recorded a year earlier.
Ariza said the AI investment race could create opportunities beyond companies directly producing advanced chips or software, including through demand for industrial space, power and logistics needed to support more technology-intensive manufacturing.
"Even if we are not necessarily producers" of all AI-related products, she said, there is a wider economic spillover that FIBRAs can capture.
Mexico has 16 listed FIBRAs, though Ariza said there was room for more specialized trusts given demand for industrial, manufacturing and infrastructure assets. The vehicles offer investors income through dividend distributions, potential asset appreciation and valuations that Ariza said were attractive relative to other markets.
The opportunity is not without constraints. International investors continue to ask about legal certainty, security and reliable access to energy - factors that can raise the cost of capital for projects, Ariza said.
"Investors do not discriminate, but they do make a very important assessment in their investment decisions," she said. Mexico needs to communicate openly about risks while making clear where potential returns justify them, she added.
Ariza also said Mexican capital markets need to do more to finance medium-sized companies supplying the country's expanding industrial base, including through funds that allow pension plans and other large investors to take diversified exposure to smaller issuers.
(Reporting by Kylie Madry; Editing by Fabiola Aramburo and Nick Zieminski)
