In Mexico City, the executives have arrived from the likes of Blue Owl Capital Inc., Ares Management Corp. and Golub Capital, all seeking a rare prize: a large pot of untapped money.

Firms that haven’t made the journey may already have fallen behind.

Mexican pension funds, known as Afores, represent a $500 billion opportunity for the biggest alternatives firms. They’re ballooning in size thanks to reforms that increased how much money is contributed to workers’ accounts, while other rule changes have increased the amounts they can allocate to international private markets firms.

It’s a bright spot for an industry that’s facing fundraising hurdles across the globe. Many US pension funds have hit their limits for private markets, while others are pushing for the return of cash from past funds before they pony up more. Retail funds are growing, but a recent rush for the exits in some corners of private credit has served as a reminder that capital can be flighty. Even the Gulf sovereign wealth funds that have risen in prominence in the past decade face questions about whether their investment pace can hold amid war and urgent domestic priorities.

That’s led to more firms pressing for face time with the Afores, which control roughly 8.7 trillion pesos ($498 billion), a figure that’s expected to climb to as much as 12 trillion pesos by 2030.

“Mexico is currently one of the most attractive fundraising markets globally, alongside the Middle East,” said Philippe Stiernon, founder of ROAM Capital, which represents leading US-based private equity firms in Latin America. “The demographic and structural tailwinds are incredibly powerful, which is why virtually every major alternative-asset manager is now prioritizing Mexico.”

At the same time, many investors in the US, Canada and elsewhere have reached their upper limits on putting money into alternatives.

Limited visibility into the pension funds’ portfolios means that it’s difficult to tell which external managers are winning the race to secure funding commitments from Afores. But some of the earliest to establish vehicles that Afores can invest in include BlackRock Inc., Blackstone Inc., KKR & Co. and Lexington Partners, according to data from local exchange Biva.

Emails seeking comment from Blue Owl and Golub were not returned. Representatives for Ares, Lexington Partners and Blackstone declined to comment.

Sergio Mendez, country head for BlackRock in Mexico, said in an emailed statement that the firm’s partnership with the local pension system has been “central to our shared growth,” adding that “the country’s Afores represent one of the most dynamic pools of long-term institutional capital in Latin America.”

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