Of the 4,966 billion pesos that the retirement fund administrators (Afores) managed until June of this year, only 6.64% (about 330,425 million pesos) was invested in national variable income. The resources allocated to international variable income was almost double, reaching 12.53%, according to data from the National Commission of the Retirement Savings System (Consar).
Afores have a greater exposure to national fixed income or Mexican government debt. They allocate 50.79% of the managed resources and 15.35% in local private bonds, being the second highest percentage in their portfolios.
In instruments such as real estate Fibras and Fibras E (of energy and infrastructure) they allocate 2.61% of the resources and in structured vehicles (CKD and Cerpis) they have channeled 7.80 percent.
“We work with the current established limits and place where we have the most performance,” said Bernardo González, president of the Mexican Association of Afores (Amafore).
The investment regime of the Afores allows them to invest up to 20% of the resources they manage in the stock drawer of both national and international companies.
Alain Jaimes, an analyst at Signum Research, explained that given the current situation of volatility in global stock markets, it is recommended to invest cautiously and turn to lower-risk assets, which are beginning to offer more attractive returns.
“The Afores are especially careful because they are managing resources that will be used for future consumption, in that sense, there are some criteria that they have to invest in the Stock Market; one is that the issuers are in the S & P / BMV IPC to guarantee that there are no liquidity risks when it comes to wanting to recover the resources, ”he said.
In the criteria that the Afores have, he added, there is a limit to the weighting that can be allocated to variable income, since it is more volatile. For example, the S&P/BMV IPC index has fallen 11.39% this year.
“Given the conservative profile of the Afores, fixed income, in a context of increases in interest rates, is beginning to become more attractive and is relatively safe. Despite this, there are solid companies on the stock market, with robust balance sheets that at current prices are attractive and, although the risk incurred is greater, if they are segmented through an analysis, attractive issuers can be found, whose risk is smaller compared to the universe of equities”.
The specialist said that basic consumer companies always show resilience in times of famine or uncertainty due to low expectations of economic growth.
unlists concern
For the Afores, the delisting of issuers on the stock market is a disincentive, since they have fewer options to invest the resources under their custody, so it is relevant to increase the offer, said Bernardo González.
“We need the Mexican stock market to develop more. We have seen that instead of new issuers arriving, they are delisting, so for us to be able to invest more in equities in Mexico, there needs to be more supply of companies”, she commented in an interview.
“It is not good at all for companies to exit the Mexican Stock Exchange. What we would like is for more issuers to be listed in the market so that we have more investment options”, reiterated the representatives of the 10 Afores that manage the pension savings of Mexican workers.
Between 2020 and this year, five companies have left the BMV and another five are in the process of canceling their listing on the stock market.
Analysts have said that although it is normal for companies to decide not to be public anymore, the fact coincides with a season in which there is a shortage of companies listing shares in the market.
Bernardo González considered that the growth of Initial Public Offerings (IPO) is a task that depends on the stock market sector and the authorities.
Since 2018, only one company has launched an IPO in the Mexican stock market and it was in the Institutional Stock Exchange (BIVA). In this 2022 the debut of the pawnshop Globcash is expected, with this, the shelf of a new stock listing looks empty.
The Afores have allocated 28,740 million pesos of investments in IPOs.
