AMEXCAP Launches Corporate Governance Standard for Private Funds

AMEXCAP has introduced the Estándar AMEXCAP in collaboration with IDB Invest to establish a standardized corporate governance framework for the Mexican private equity sector. This standardized tool aims to lower fundraising barriers and minimize operational friction by aligning local fund management with global guidelines from ILPA and the OECD. This framework enables domestic funds to improve management transparency and scale private capital deployment into small and medium-sized enterprises to offset ongoing public infrastructure spending contractions.

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The Mexican Private Equity Association (AMEXCAP) has launched the Estándar AMEXCAP, a comprehensive corporate governance best practices manual designed to professionalize asset management processes and optimize international capital attraction. Developed with technical assistance from IDB Invest, the standardized framework aims to reduce structural friction during the fundraising lifecycle while reinforcing investor confidence between fund administrators and global institutional capital providers.

According to AMEXCAP, this standardized framework establishes common operational criteria to improve institutional transparency and streamline capital allocation toward domestic enterprises. José María Zertuche, President of the Board of Directors, AMEXCAP, explained that the manual aims to diminish development barriers for fund managers, reduce operational friction in fundraising, and facilitate the direct channeling of private investments into active industries. 

Véronique Billia, General Director, AMEXCAP, noted that the new standard serves as an ambitious tool to elevate industry execution standards and increase sectoral attractiveness for international institutional investors looking to deploy capital in the country, strengthening the entire regional private equity ecosystem.

The newly established standard is structured across five core strategic pillars: governance and structure; fund management and operations; economics, incentives, and conflicts; transparency, reporting, and communication; and responsible conduct, ethics, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria. To accommodate varying operational scales, the framework incorporates three distinct maturity tiers — basic, intermediate, and advanced — allowing fund managers of diverse sizes and developmental phases to adopt the guidelines incrementally. 

Additionally, the initiative features an open-access implementation matrix enabling independent self-assessments, which remains available to all ecosystem participants regardless of their formal association membership status. The framework incorporates reference guidelines established by global organizations, including the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), to bridge local practices with international institutional requirements.

This drive toward industrial professionalization aligns with broader capital mobilization goals across the domestic market. According to data from the association, the Mexican private capital industry has channeled US$89.058 billion into the national economy since 2003, with portfolio companies generating approximately 1.9 million jobs nationwide. 

The implementation of the governance standard mirrors an aggressive push by fund managers to tap into expanding industrial sectors, with AMEXCAP projecting that the domestic private equity industry could deploy up to US$28 billion annually under optimal regulatory and fiscal conditions. Furthermore, enhanced institutional framework design helps close critical credit and investment gaps, a growing necessity as private investment funds seek to scale financing for small and medium-sized enterprises from MX$5 billion (US$286 million) to MX$50 billion (US$2.86 billion) to offset a 28.4% contraction in real public infrastructure spending.

From the perspective of IDB Invest, robust governance structures operate as a key driver to increase foreign direct investment inflows into emerging markets. Andrés Ackermann, Director and Head of Investment Funds at IDB Invest, noted that strengthening the administrative capacities of localized funds fosters long-term trust and creates optimal conditions to mobilize institutional capital into productive sectors. Moving forward, AMEXCAP intends to monitor the adoption curve of the governance standard among regional asset managers and will implement periodic updates to the manual based on continuous market feedback and evolving macroeconomic shifts, ensuring the Mexican private equity landscape remains resilient, highly transparent, and globally competitive over the next economic cycle.