Fernando Sánchez and the independent funds redefining real estate capital in Latin America

Over $2.5 billion in assets managed by sovereign private capital funds

The trend is clear and quantifiable. A group of real estate managers and developers in Latin America manages significant volumes of capital outside the major global institutional platforms. Independencia AGF, the Chilean fund founded by Fernando Sánchez Chaigneau in 1995, directly and indirectly manages over $2 billion in assets, primarily real estate in Chile, the United States, and Uruguay, according to data from Independencia S.A. and GRI Institute (2026). In Mexico, Artha Capital manages assets exceeding 28 billion Mexican pesos, equivalent to over $500 million, through its logistics platform Frontier Industrial, according to Frontier Industrial and GRI Institute (2026). The combined total of both vehicles surpasses $2.5 billion in assets under management, a figure that reflects the scale independent capital can achieve when structured with discipline and a differentiated investment thesis.

These operators share a distinctive trait: autonomy in investment decision-making. While global institutional funds depend on multilevel committees and rigid mandates, independent vehicles can move more quickly to capture opportunities in markets where timing defines profitability.

Who is Fernando Sánchez and why is Independencia AGF a regional benchmark?

Fernando Sánchez Chaigneau founded Independencia AGF three decades ago with a premise that was pioneering in the Southern Cone at the time: structuring real estate investment vehicles with institutional governance but with capital independence from large banks and insurance companies. The result is a platform that today directly and indirectly manages over $2 billion in real estate assets geographically diversified across Chile, the United States, and Uruguay (Independencia S.A. / GRI Institute, 2026).

Independencia AGF's model serves as a case study for Latin American markets. The firm combines the scale of an institutional manager with the agility of a family office, enabling it to structure transactions across different jurisdictions without the constraints of external mandates. This sovereign capital architecture, where the manager controls the investment thesis from start to finish, has generated growing interest among Mexican and Andean developers seeking to replicate similar structures in their own markets.

Independencia AGF demonstrated that capital autonomy is compatible with institutional scale—a lesson that independent Mexican funds are absorbing in the current cycle.

The map of independent capital in Mexico: Arzentia Capital and Artha Capital

Mexico today has the highest density of opportunities for independent real estate capital in the region, driven by the nearshoring cycle and the incentives of Plan México. Two operators illustrate this dynamic with complementary profiles.

Arzentia Capital, the Odriozola family's family office headquartered in Monterrey, was established in 2007 and deploys independent capital in real estate and private equity in Mexico, according to data from Altss and Preqin (2025-2026). Its structure as a family office provides a concrete competitive advantage: the ability to commit capital without relying on external fundraising processes, which significantly reduces execution timelines in a market where closing speed can determine access to the best industrial and logistics assets.

Artha Capital, in turn, operates with a broader asset management structure. With over 28 billion Mexican pesos under management, its logistics platform Frontier Industrial positions it as one of the largest-scale independent vehicles in the Mexican industrial segment (Frontier Industrial / GRI Institute, 2026). The firm has built its portfolio in a sector experiencing an exceptional moment: according to Mexecution, citing Luis Gutiérrez, former president of Fibra Prologis, the next industrial real estate boom in Mexico, driven by nearshoring and the reconfiguration of supply chains, could last 20 years.

Independent funds like Arzentia Capital and Artha Capital operate with a structural advantage in the nearshoring cycle: the agility to commit capital within timeframes that traditional institutional vehicles cannot match.

How does Mexico's regulatory environment favor independent developers?

The current fiscal incentive framework in Mexico amplifies the competitive advantages of independent operators. The Relocation Decree, published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on January 21, 2025, as part of the national Plan México strategy, grants incentives that include accelerated depreciation of between 41% and 91% for investments in new fixed assets aimed at boosting nearshoring and innovation. For an independent fund with committed capital ready for deployment, this fiscal incentive substantially improves the projected returns of new industrial and logistics developments.

The macroeconomic context reinforces the opportunity. The Mexican government launched the Infrastructure Investment Plan 2026-2030, which projects a total combined public and private investment of 5.6 trillion pesos, according to Mexico Business News (February 2026). Additionally, Plan México aims to attract $100 billion annually in Foreign Direct Investment and create 1.5 million high-value jobs by 2030, according to Jones Day and the Government of Mexico.

This projected investment volume generates a favorable ecosystem for operators who can move quickly and without the layers of approval that characterize large global funds. Independent developers with their own capital or lean fundraising structures are positioned to capture a significant share of the infrastructure and real estate pipeline that will accompany the nearshoring cycle.

Plan México and its accelerated depreciation scheme create ideal conditions for capital vehicles that can make investment decisions in weeks, not quarters.

Urbanova and the real estate ecosystem model in Peru

The independent capital phenomenon extends beyond Mexico's borders. In Peru, Urbanova operates as the real estate arm of Grupo Breca under the leadership of Giacomo Sissa. Its model integrates an ecosystem of prime offices, retail, and hotels through Intursa (Urbanova, 2025-2026). Although linked to a family conglomerate, Urbanova shares with Mexican operators the ability to structure real estate transactions with capital autonomy and a long-term vision, without depending on external investor mandates.

This ecosystem model, where a single operator controls multiple real estate asset classes under a unified investment thesis, represents an evolution of the capital independence concept. Diversification by asset type within the same platform reduces risk and generates operational synergies that funds specialized in a single asset class can rarely replicate.

A regional trend with structural implications

The convergence of these players—from Fernando Sánchez with Independencia AGF in the Southern Cone to Arzentia Capital and Artha Capital in Mexico and Urbanova in Peru—reveals a trend that deserves serious analytical attention. Latin American real estate markets are producing a class of operators that combine institutional scale with capital independence, a profile that optimally positions them to capture the opportunities of the 2026-2030 cycle.

At forums and events organized by GRI Institute, this conversation about capital autonomy has intensified. Industry leaders recognize that the next decade in Latin American real estate will be defined as much by the volume of available capital as by the speed and flexibility with which it is deployed. In this context, independent funds hold a structural advantage that current market conditions amplify.

The nearshoring cycle in Mexico, with a horizon that some analysts project at two decades, represents an unprecedented window of opportunity. The operators who arrive first, with capital ready and a defined investment thesis, will capture the highest-quality assets. And in that race, capital independence is increasingly a decisive competitive advantage.