Latin America
and the Caribbean

CIFI is a leading private sector middle-market infrastructure platform in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Our platform serves the entire Latin American and Caribbean Region with sustainable investments that target positive impact and integrate environmental, social, and corporate governance factor. 


Infrastructure is a key driver for Latin America and the Caribbean region for post-COVID-19 recovery. Regional governments depend largely on private sector investment to support growth. IDB estimates an infrastructure investment gap in the region around 2.5% of GDP, posing a rich opportunity for private sector investments.


Project finance has been a key driver of infrastructure development boosting economies in Latin America during the past decade and will continue to do so in the next decade as the range of investors diversifies, grows, and increases in sophistication. 

CIFI, with a track record of 20 years in the region, has financed over 200 projects, with US$1.8 billion in direct lending and more than US$20 billion in mobilized capital. 

Latin America and the Caribbean

CIFI is a leading private sector middle-market infrastructure platform in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Our platform serves the entire Latin American and Caribbean Region with sustainable investments that target positive impact and integrate environmental, social, and corporate governance factor. 


Infrastructure is a key driver for Latin America and the Caribbean region for post-COVID-19 recovery. Regional governments depend largely on private sector investment to support growth. IDB estimates an infrastructure investment gap in the region around 2.5% of GDP, posing a rich opportunity for private sector investments.


Project finance has been a key driver of infrastructure development boosting economies in Latin America during the past decade and will continue to do so in the next decade as the range of investors diversifies, grows, and increases in sophistication. 

CIFI, with a track record of 20 years in the region, has financed over 200 projects, with US$1.8 billion in direct lending and more than US$20 billion in mobilized capital. 

Sectors

Energy

Energy is at the heart of the sustainable development agenda to 2030. Access to energy is key to fight poverty and boost economic activity. CIFI provides innovative financing solutions to accelerate the clean energy transition in Latin America. Currently, 45% of our loan portfolio is dedicated to renewable energy.

Renewable Energy

Latin America, which has some of the world’s most abundant wind and solar resources, has become one of the most competitive renewable energy markets in the world representing more than a fifth of primary energy in the region.

At CIFI we have a renewable energy portfolio that reaches 45% and we are experts in the structuring and project financing of this type of projects, including: hydroelectric, geothermal, solar, wind, cogeneration (biomass).

Energy Storage

Mass deployment of energy storage will help overcome one of the greatest challenges in renewable energy as well as to provide means to reach households off grid to provide clean energy. Energy storage plays a key role in grid stabilization.

Energy Efficiency

The goal is to reduce energy consumption while optimizing the use of resources to accelerate the transition towards a low carbon economy, these include LED lighting, smart city components and thermal insulation.

Fossil Fuels

Industries involved in the production and sale of energy, including fuel extraction, manufacturing, refining and distribution. (Visit our exclusion list to learn more about activities that CIFI will not finance).

Transmission and Distribution

Cifi will finance construction and equipment projects for power transmission and distribution.

Logistics and Transport

Road infrastructure developments as well as increasing public and non-motorized transportation are at the center of the regions’ efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.

A significant gap between current and required investments in infrastructure in the region present an attractive opportunity for investors. The sector will require a substantial participation from the private sector, a path that has been paved by increased Public-Private Partnerships regulation.

Transportation includes road infrastructure, electric buses, waterways, ports, airports, railways, and highways.
Logistics implies a broader spectrum and refers to the whole flow management, including storage, handling, inventory, packaging, and various other aspects.

Telecommunications

The digital era has transformed the way we do business and communicate with each other.

Access to reliable connectivity and the digital world are essential for economic development, and innovation. The Latin American telecom industry has undergone a significant transformation in the past two decades and will remain relevant soon.

Strong and state of the art telecommunication infrastructure makes efficient communication possible on a global scale, whether it is through the phone or the Internet, through airwaves or cables, through wires or wirelessly. The sector created the infrastructure that allows data in words, voice, audio, or video to be send anywhere in the world. The largest companies in the sector are telephone (both wired and wireless) operators, satellite companies, cable companies, and internet service providers.

Construction

General construction services as well as the raw materials that accompany the sector’s development are expected to grow in the region. Larger economies in the region will play a relevant role in boosting economic development in the post-Covid-19 era that will require support from the private sector.

The Latin American construction market is a very diverse industry that includes construction projects in different sectors such as commercial construction, residential construction, industrial construction, and the manufacture and supply of products, as well as maintenance, operation, and disposal.

Social Infrastructure

Defined as critical infrastructure that support human wellbeing, Social Infrastructure is at the center of the Sustainable Development Agenda.

In Latin America, the Covid-19 crisis brought to light the urgent need to increase investment in social infrastructure, especially in health care, education, water, and sanitation. Participation from the private sector will accelerate the growth that in turn will boost economic development by reclaiming the millions of jobs lost during the pandemic.
Social infrastructure is the construction and maintenance of facilities that support social services. Types of social infrastructure include healthcare (hospitals), education (schools and universities), public facilities, smart cities, water and sanitation, and waste management facilities.

Tourism

Tourism accounts for 10% of the GDP in the Latin American and the Caribbean region, and approximately 15% of the jobs.
 For some small countries, especially in the Caribbean, that number is higher. The current downturn during the Covid-19 pandemic is having a major effect on economies heavily dependent on tourism. However, the World Tourism Organization predicts a sustained growth in the next decade with important shifts in the development of the industry towards a more sustainable and resilient industry.

Sustainable tourism requires a balance between the usage and its limits, as well as to incorporate measures to prevent negative impact in regions of high biodiversity, while embracing host communities as an essential part of the equation. Over 50% of the employment generated in the industry is occupied by women, contributing to the gender equality agenda in the region.

Domestic tourism accounts for an important share in several Latin American countries. In the wake of the pandemic, there will be a transformation of the tourism industry, as well as other industries. Improving travel and tourism competitiveness requires collaboration between the public and private sectors.

Tourism involves lodging, shopping malls, travel services, and all infrastructure that directly provide goods or services to facilitate business, pleasure, and leisure activities away from the home environment.

Tourism

Tourism accounts for 10% of the GDP in the Latin American and the Caribbean region, and approximately 15% of the jobs.
 For some small countries, especially in the Caribbean, that number is higher. The current downturn during the Covid-19 pandemic is having a major effect on economies heavily dependent on tourism. However, the World Tourism Organization predicts a sustained growth in the next decade with important shifts in the development of the industry towards a more sustainable and resilient industry.

Sustainable tourism requires a balance between the usage and its limits, as well as to incorporate measures to prevent negative impact in regions of high biodiversity, while embracing host communities as an essential part of the equation. Over 50% of the employment generated in the industry is occupied by women, contributing to the gender equality agenda in the region.

Domestic tourism accounts for an important share in several Latin American countries. In the wake of the pandemic, there will be a transformation of the tourism industry, as well as other industries. Improving travel and tourism competitiveness requires collaboration between the public and private sectors.

Tourism involves lodging, shopping malls, travel services, and all infrastructure that directly provide goods or services to facilitate business, pleasure, and leisure activities away from the home environment.