Process of identifying managers for infrastructure fund starts in Peru

(Lima, May 21, 2009).- The Andean Development Corporation initiated, with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a process of identifying private entities interested in managing a capital fund for infrastructure projects in Peru.

The fund is one of the potential mechanisms for financing investment in infrastructure in Peru included in the memorandum of understanding signed by Peruvian Vice Minister of Finance Jos Arista Arbildo; IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno; and CAF President & CEO Enrique Garca, during the IDB annual meeting held in March in Medelln, Colombia.

The two development banks will identify entities with experience in investment fund management and infrastructure in Latin America which could be considered for managing the new fund. The new fund will be guided by private profitability criteria following the best international practices in order to encourage participation by local and foreign institutional investors.

The Republic of Peru, through Corporacin Financiera de Desarrollo S.A. (COFIDE), and IDB and CAF will consider contributing funds or providing loans to the fund, subject to integrated analysis of the operation by each institution, their respective policies and procedures, approvals from the competent internal bodies, including executive boards, and the signing of satisfactory documentation for each institution.

In comparison with other regions of the world, Latin America suffers from a serious lag in infrastructure, which is a key factor for stimulating economic and social development, and increasing productivity. At present, investment in infrastructure projects is playing a contra-cyclical role in the global economic and financial crisis.