Fundraising

MMIF ups investment in Tower Partners

With increased investment, Mexico Tower Partners (MTP) will increase its portfolio of wireless and broadband assets.

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Late last month, the Macquarie Mexico Infrastructure Fund (MMIF), comprised of Macquarie's Mexican Infrastructure Trusts I and II (MMIT I and MMIT II), increased its investment in Mexico Tower Partners (MTP) to fund “a significant portfolio of wireless and broadcast telecommunications sites in Mexico,” according to an MMIT I release. 

“We continue to believe the wireless tower industry in Mexico presents attractive opportunities for independent operators such as MTP and are pleased to announce this additional investment,” said MMIF Chairman Jonathan Davis Arzac. “The portfolio that MTP will acquire is an excellent asset as there are few independent portfolios of this size in Mexico.”

“This acquisition will also serve to further diversify MTP's customer base,” he added.

MTP is a 50-50 joint venture between MMIF and global communications infrastructure platform Digital Bridge, established in May 2014 after the two firms merged their existing in-country portfolios to form the second-largest independent telecommunications towers business in Mexico.

Once the acquisition is complete, MTP will manage a portfolio of approximately 1,200 towers, up from 550 towers when MTP was first formed. Digital Bridge previously stated that MTP has aspirations to acquire a total of 2,000 towers within its first three years.

Total investment by MMIF in the venture will be increased to Mex$1.3 billion ($87.69 million; €79.7 million) from a previously undisclosed amount. Digital Bridge made an initial investment of $45 million into MTP last May, with a goal announced at the start of the venture to deploy a total of $130 million in raised equity throughout the life of the partnership. 

“We see tremendous amounts of opportunities in Mexico,” said Digital Bridge head Marc Ganzi last year when the venture was announced. “Going forward, Macquarie Mexico will continue to put in incremental capital and, of course, we will support the business with capital, our management team and our knowhow.” 

Ganzi also noted that he views Mexican telecom as a growth market going through deregulation with “a lot of promise for the Mexican consumer, because 4G has not even been built there yet.”