Private equity firms are intensifying their fundraising efforts in Latin America as institutional and private wealth capital pools deepen in the likes of Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Colombia.

Evidence of the ramp-up is surfacing in regulatory disclosures. A proprietary Mergermarket analysis of US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Form D filings since 2010 clearly shows more North American and global GPs are retaining Latin America-based placement agents.

This is supported by anecdotes from across the fundraising spectrum. From Mexico’s Administradoras de Fondos para el Retiro (AFORE) pension funds to Brazil’s family offices, there is greater appetite for exposure to alternative investments globally.

Latin America-focused placement agent Roam Capital estimates the region has USD 1.2tn in pension and insurance assets and an ultra high net worth population sitting on more than USD 1.4bn.

“In the past, GPs trying to access Latin America was more of a trend, but now I’m seeing it more as a core strategy,” said Erica López, a Chicago-based partner at Baker McKenzie who advises private equity sponsors deploying capital in the region. “At the same time, you also have a ton of LPs looking to enter the global market, so you have this convergence – a natural meeting point.”

The Mergermarket analysis identified just three references –either multiple firms disclosed for a single fund or a single firm across multiple funds— to Latin America-based placement agents in 2010. Nine years later, there were 43. The century threshold was breached for the first time in 2021, with 111 references, and the total stayed at roughly that level until last year, which saw an astonishing 274 references.

GPs targeting the region have broadened in scope as well as increasing in number. Global firms are well represented – Mergermarket‘s analysis identified 25 mentions of Latin American placements in Oaktree Capital Management filings in 2025, 24 from Blackstone – and they are now regularly joined by middle-market peers.

Boston-based Great Hill Partners and New York-headquartered Lindsay Goldberg both raised capital from the region for their flagship buyout funds, as previously reported. They disclosed using Chilean placement agents, as did Chicago-based Wind Point Partners for a fund that launched last year.

AFORE-front 

The idea of tapping Latin American LPs is not new. Daniel Mueller, co-founder of placement agent Alpine Capital Advisors’ Latin American business, describes it as a 15-year trend. His firm expanded into Mexico City and Santiago a year after its founding in 2014 and has since worked with the likes of Thoma Bravo and Bain Capital.

The region’s more recent graduation from strategic afterthought to essential stop on the fundraising trail can be linked to tough conditions in North America characterized by increasing LP selectivity. But Mueller believes there are pull as well as push factors. “We’ve seen a bigger change from the LP demand side to invest in international funds since 2022,” he said.

Regulatory reforms enabling greater participation are a major catalyst. In Mexico, for example, the introduction of Certificados de Capital de Desarrollo (CKD) and Certificados Bursátiles Fiduciarios de Proyectos de Inversión (CERPI) structures – which began in the 2000s – allow AFOREs to allocate more capital to alternatives strategies internationally.

Market participants widely cite AFOREs as Latin America’s most significant institutional capital pool. Assets under management (AUM) topped MXN 8.67tn (USD 489bn) as of February 2026. The two largest institutions, Profuturo and XXI Banorte, have AUM of MXN 1.69tn and MXN 1.65tn, respectively, according to government data.

However, overall allocations to CKD and CERPI were less than 8% in mid-2025, suggesting minimal exposure to alternatives and therefore considerable upside potential.

“Mexico in particular continues to be a market where private equity should grow over time,” said a source at a US-based mid-market sponsor that recently raised capital in the country. “When we’ve traveled there, we’ve encountered more GPs, and the LP community seems to be getting busier.”

More outflows are also expected from Brazil, where tax reforms in 2024 are helping to facilitate international investments by both institutional and private investors. “Brazil is one to watch as they are a USD 2.4tn fund domicile and these funds are primarily invested in domestic public markets,” said Serge Weyland, CEO of the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI).

Chile holds similar appeal. An overhaul of the country’s Administradoras de Fondos de Pensiones (AFP) system could unlock higher allocations to offshore private market funds, Chilean law firm EDN Abogados said during the ALFI Global Asset Management Conference in Luxembourg in March.

As reported, the reforms will see an increase in the contribution rate from 10% to 18.5%, as well as a shift to target-based funds. Target date funds in other geographies are increasingly focusing on private markets.

This is part of what industry participants describe as a favorable regulatory framework that might be beneficial for alternative asset managers. “Chile has historically been the poster child for stable, investor-friendly Latin American markets,” said Baker McKenzie’s López.  “And there is a sense of pro-investment changes – like tax cuts and new foreign investment frameworks – coming with the recent government changes.”

The combination of size – Chilean pensions manage nearly USD 240bn, according to EDN Abogados – institutional stability, and policy tailwinds has turned Santiago into a hotbed for private funds advisory work. Chilean placement agents were referenced 147 times in filings in 2025 alone, nearly 5x more than second-placed Colombia, according to Mergermarket‘s analysis.

Ticking clock

Loosening shackles on pension funds are only one part of the equation, however. Global GPs are also seeing increasing demand from Latin American family offices.

Historically, this wealth has been concentrated in domestic assets, real estate and US Treasuries. Now, family offices are eyeing opportunities in private markets, Mueller observed. This is a function of having more capital to deploy and greater comfort with complexity – while other industry participants highlight the need to protect amid political volatility and hedge against rampant inflation.

“Latin America is a like a clock,” said Ricardo Trejos, a Bogotá-based partner at Baker Mckenzie. “When the clock strikes you need to protect your capital.”

Advisors cite Chile and Colombia as key markets for family office outflows. The diversification imperative is apparent in Mexico and Brazil as well, with Guilherme Vanzin, a managing partner at local advisory firm Nob Hill, arguing that Brazil’s low-single-digit share of global GDP makes a purely domestic portfolio difficult to justify for families taking a long-term view.

Moreover, second and third-generation family members often have international education or work experience, shaping a more global investment mindset. “They have greater exposure to other countries,” Vanzin said. “Today, these people talk about buying Tesla stock or investing in Dubai.”

Domestic market conditions are adding a sense of urgency, according to Luiz Eugênio Figueiredo, vice president of the Brazilian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (ABVCAP). First, the high Selic benchmark interest rate is pushing investors into higher-return asset classes. Second, there has been a prolonged drought in Brazil’s equity capital markets, with no IPOs since 2021.

“That makes some investors realize that if they want to have access to this sort of investment, or specific economic sectors, they are not going to find them on the stock market and will need to look for alternatives in the private markets instead,” Figueiredo said.

Against that backdrop, more North American and global private equity groups are looking to build family office networks in Latin America. Stephen Marks, a managing partner at Emmersion Capital, a Bogotá, São Paulo and Miami-based advisory firm that works with GPs and family offices on cross-border opportunities, has seen an uptick in visits from mid-market managers in recent years.

“They want introductions to our family office and multi-family office contacts in Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico,” he said. “This demand seems driven by an institutional pullback from private equity and real estate funds since the post-COVID peak.”

Over the past two years, Emmersion has seen USD 80m from family offices and multi-family offices in Latin America going into US private equity and real estate funds. Having a long-term outlook is a key draw. “While institutional capital providers feel burned by promises of quicker returns, Latin American family offices are more patient,” Marks said.

There is sufficient capacity to secure five commitments of USD 20m through the family office channel instead of relying on one institutional player to write a USD 100m check. However, having credible anchor investors is still crucial, the source at the US mid-market sponsor added, especially for younger managers that need validation to generate interest.

“If it’s Mexico, they want to know which other investors within their network have already invested with you,” the source said. “Getting that first anchor investor is the hardest part, but once you have it, growth can happen quite quickly.”

On the menu 

Private equity is not necessarily top priority for Latin American family offices and high net worth individuals (HNWIs) looking for exposure to alternative assets. International real estate is a more obvious first step.

BAI Capital, a Miami-based real estate developer and private investment platform that raises capital for primarily US-based projects, recently opened an office in Mexico to target family offices and HNWIs. The selling points are US dollar-denominated assets and potential outsized returns.

“This profile complements the Latin American investor,” said Arturo Venti, CEO of BAI Capital. “The typical American investor we see is younger — often in their 30s — whereas in Mexico it is more commonly established families with significant wealth participating.”

Baker McKenzie’s Trejos agrees that “real estate and the US” is a good combination for high net worth investors. On the institutional side, appetite varies more. Industry participants point to infrastructure and private credit as flavor of the month.

Interest in real assets is captured in Mergermarket‘s analysis of Form D data. Each of the 25 references to Latin American placement agents identified in Oaktree’s filings last year pertained to three real estate funds. Blackstone ranked second in the analysis with 24, of which 13 related to infrastructure and real estate funds, while JP Morgan was third on 21, all coming from its private infrastructure arm.

However, more PE sponsors are getting traction. Outside of the large-cap global names, filings indicate that One Equity Partners used Compass Global Advisors in Montevideo for its ninth fund, which closed last year on USD 3.25bn. TowerBrook and Leonard Green & Partners have recruited Chilean agents – Administradora General de Fondos Security and Picton, respectively.

Secondaries funds are appearing with increasing frequency as well. The Mergermarket analysis identified 14 references to Latin American placement agents in Lexington Partners filings last year, while Blackstone referenced an agent from the region in a filing for its latest secondaries fund. London-headquartered Hollyport Capital also tapped Latin American LPs for its USD 4.5bn Fund IX, as previously reported. 

Local legs

Even as the broadening range of asset classes underscores growing demand for private markets in Latin America, accessing these LPs is far from straightforward. Sweeping from Mexico to Patagonia, the region encompasses around 620m people across 18 countries with marked differences in terms of economic development, regulation, and business culture. Yet even a basic understanding is sometimes lacking.

Nob Hill’s Vanzin noted that foreign managers often come equipped with little local knowledge – he recently met with one that was unaware of Brazil’s dearth of IPOs – and fail to appreciate the importance of shaking hands, making eye contact and building familiarity before pitching a fund.

“We, Brazilians and Latinos, are not transactional people,” he added. “It doesn’t work to add an investor on LinkedIn and then email them the next day with a 600-line message and three pitch decks.”

Courting Latin American LPs typically involves introductory lunches, second meetings, and assorted follow-ups. “It’s a very relationship-driven market, and we’ve been developing that for many years,” explained Ben Jackson, managing director of capital formation at Miami-based private equity and real estate investor Leste, which has Brazilian origins.

In addition to high-touch outreach, Baker McKenzie’s López advises her North American GP clients to establish a local presence. This is essential not only to understand the culture, but also to navigate the complexities of what tend to be highly bureaucratic markets.

Several global sponsors have long established on-the-ground operations in Latin America, often by virtue of making investments in the region. Advent International raised its first dedicated Latin America fund in 1996 and opened a Mexico City office the same year. It now also has bases in Brazil and Colombia.

General Atlantic (GA), which keeps offices in Brazil and Mexico, has backed high-flying startups such as online grocery business Jüsto and iconic assets like Mexican soccer outfit Club América. In February, a GA-led consortium agreed to acquire a 24% stake in Grupo Financiero Citibanamex, Citigroup’s Mexican commercial bank business, for USD 2.5bn – the largest proposed Latin American buyout by a US-based sponsor, according to Mergermarket.

Smaller operators looking to raise capital from the region will inevitably lean heavily on external advisors. “When GPs are offering their funds to Latin American LPs for the first time, they all use placement agents due to regulatory, structuring or cultural and relationship issues,” said Alpine’s Mueller.

What’s next?

Local knowledge mitigates a certain degree of risk, but private equity firms still view Latin America through a macro lens and deliberate on its inherent economic and political volatility. At the same time, longer and deeper engagement with the region’s LPs could help them look past these issues, leading to benefits that extend beyond fundraising.

For now, many eyes are on Colombia’s presidential election, scheduled for May, which could reshape the private funds landscape, with President Gustavo Petro pressing ahead with a pension system overhaul whereby low-wage workers would contribute to a state-run fund.

Should his party’s candidate win and follow through, there could be a sharp reduction in private pension inflows, which would impact overseas allocations. According to EDN Abogados, Colombian pension AUM currently totals USD 143bn, with just under half of that invested internationally.

Over in Brazil, the presidential election in October is shaping up as a race between incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro. It threatens to deepen the country’s political polarization, which may encourage LPs and GPs to accelerate efforts to close deals by the end of 1H26, according to a source at a local growth equity firm.

Brazil was prominent in a strong showing for Latin American M&A in 2025, Mergermarket data show. It contributed roughly half of regional deal volume, which reached a four-year high of USD 105bn, and two-thirds of the 1,409 transactions announced.

Latin American GPs deployed USD 4bn across 22 deals, led by Brazil-based Patria Investments, which completed 13 investments in its domestic market. Advisors say increasingly competitive local fundraising conditions are driving many domestic sponsors to raise their game.

“Latin American funds now compete for the same local LP dollar with world-class names that offer a long track record of performance and geographic diversification,” said Manuel Cifuentes, head of financial sponsors at BBVA in Mexico. “This competition may pressure local funds to further justify their fees and demonstrate superior deal flow and specialization.”

By contrast, global private equity activity continues to lag. At the height of the 2021 cycle, US sponsors executed 24 deals worth roughly USD 3.3bn in the region. Last year saw just seven transactions totaling USD 431m; in 2024, it was 20 deals worth USD 1.23bn.

Could that change as these sponsors raise more capital from Latin America? Some industry participants believe global GPs are already sharpening their regional strategies, with Baker McKenzie’s López pointing to an increasing focus on data centers, as well as energy and mining opportunities.

The hope is this evolves into a virtuous circle as closer ties with Latin American LPs facilitate information-sharing, which in turn strengthens investment underwriting. Institutional and high net worth investors might even leverage their knowledge and networks to act as conduits for deal sourcing.

“This local knowledge can be invaluable to global GPs,” said BBVA’s Cifuentes. “Latin American LPs can alert or introduce investment opportunities to global GPs that they might have otherwise missed.”