Peru Pension Funds To Invest $500 Million In Infrastructure Works

LIMA (Dow Jones) -- Peru's private pension funds plan to invest more than $500 million in infrastructure projects in the first quarter of 2012, an industry executive said Wednesday.

Jose Roca, the head of investments at private pension fund Prima AFP, said that Peru's pension funds are finalizing terms to provide $240 million for a road project in Lima, known as the Via Parque Rimac.

Via Parque Rimac will require a total investment of $600 million, Roca said during a meeting with reporters. The road will connect downtown Lima to the port city of Callao.

Roca said that the pension funds are also planning to invest in two or three other infrastructure projects in Peru. He did not provide further details about those projects.

Prima AFP is controlled by financial holding company Credicorp Ltd. (BAP, BAP.VL). Other pension funds operating in Peru are AFP Horizonte SA (HORIZC1.VL), owned mainly by Holding Continental and Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (BBVA, BBVA.MC); AFP Integra SA (INTEGRC1.VL), mainly owned by the ING Groep NV (ING, INGA.AE); and AFP Profuturo, whose main shareholder is a unit of Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS, BNS.T).

At the end of 2011, the pensions fund had investments totaling 9 billion soles ($3.35 billion) in infrastructure works. In total, the pension funds manage approximately PEN85 billion.

-By Ryan Dube, Dow Jones Newswires; 51-1 9454 043 802; [e-mail]