First quarter mayhem is winding down for Team IJ with the infra circus having struck tents in Miami and applause fading in New York… just a few more Q1 hurdles to vault and we’re back to plain sailing.

The start of every IJGlobal year is dominated by league tables, reports, awards – for greenfield financing and refinance activity – and our flagship IJ LatAm conference in Miami.

Last night, IJGlobal senior editor Ila Patel hosted the Americas awards with NY-based sales director Guy Dunkley; following the London event earlier this month for Europe and Africa. Next up are the APAC awards in Singapore on 9 April and the MENA awards in Dubai, 30 April.

The Miami Conference – IJ LatAm 2025 – was a resounding success with 730 registered delegates (not including lobby dwellers) and we’ll be back next year… same time, same place (2-4 March 2026 at 1 Hotel South Beach).

However, next year we’ll lock in coffee charges as delegates guzzled their way through 224 gallons of java on the first day of the conference… and I’m not going to tell you how much they’re charging for it – but it comfortably covers the cost of a new car!

Today’s Friday Editorial focuses on the Miami conference and key takeaways from an event that all but broke LinkedIn and sent off delegates with more battery packs than they need and smiles on their faces (maybe not the person who walked into the window nose-first at the White & Case party).

But, first, why is there always a dearth of Friday Editorials in Q1? Well, let’s just take a look at what IJ has published so far this year…

The year starts off with the IJGlobal League Tables for full-year 2024, identifying all the infra and energy transactions to have reached financial close around the world and tracking refinance activity.

This is followed by our funds & investors league tables that chart the most active infra funds and advisers, followed by the funds & investors report that focuses primarily on fundraising to target infra/energy.

Next up is a drill-down into regional activity on the greenfield and refi front, with the first one on Latin America (to help marketing for IJ LatAm), followed by North America, then shifting to European activity, and on to Asia Pacific… Middle East and Africa is out next week.

But let’s take a look at the Miami conference and the key takeaways from an outstanding event where the “infrastructure revolution” was toasted and everyone without a broken nose left with a smile on their faces.

Key takeaways

Well, from my perspective, I thought it interesting that ESG has taken something of a back seat and the drum that was thumped so vigorously last year was muted. That rather puts paid to our plans for an Americas ESG awards night (for now).

Meanwhile, gas-fired thermal power was all the rage, electricity transmission needs a lot of work, and mining’s flavour of the day. Renewables – how strange the change from major to minor!

That’s not entirely fair, renewable energy remains a key component… but base load power, transport, digital infra, energy storage and rare earth minerals dominate.

On a country-by-country basis… Peru’s back in business; Chile’s on the rise; Mexico was furrowing some brows, prompting see-saw hand gestures, leading to tentative thumbs up; Brazil is booming; Colombia is resting on its laurels having already achieved so much already; and rapacious (but cautious) eyes turn towards Argentina.

As one delegate says: “What I like is meeting people and knowing what's coming. For example, the Dominican Republic looks interesting, Brazil is very active, Colombia has already finished what it had to do, Mexico is interesting, projects will come out. Let's see what happens with Argentina, I think it can be reactivated.”

The political landscape in Latin America as well as shifting sands in the US remain a source of concern, however – reaching for a (possibly tarnished) silver lining – the changing policy outlook and tariff war being launched by the US is turning the continental spotlight on LatAm and could result in developers allocating human resource to where the true opportunity lies.

One delegate points to there still being an enormous infrastructure investment gap in LatAm which is underlined by the high level of participation in the event, and “there is no shortage of interest in the space”.

The source adds: “If the governments can get the respective regulatory frameworks set up quickly, many investors and financiers are already on the sidelines waiting to jump in.

“Although it remains on everybody's radar, no secret sauce has been found towards balancing the speed of grid capacity take-up versus COD of new transmission lines due to different time permitting and constructing tenor.”

Looking across all of the regional markets, energy is emerging as a key theme for growth, however the real focus has turned towards projects that are deliverable and solving real issues right now.

“Batteries seem to be a bit of a poster child at the moment and attractive because they can compensate a bit for much needed upgrades to transmission and distribution which will probably come, but require generally longer development times with governments and decision making being identified as a bit of a bottleneck to a more integrated energy system,” adds another delegate.

Hydrogen – everyone’s favourite over-hyped infra subject du jour – had its own panel and speakers were keen to talk down the hyperbole, while maintaining a level head on progress.

One source says: “Hydrogen is looking interesting, but projects moving forwards more quickly are generally those that are smaller with more secure/less complex offtake. I didn’t completely buy the argument of diversifying risk by scaling projects up and making them more complex.”

The need for more energy generation across Latin America remains a key market driver, as does the installation of transmission lines. However, when developers are being told to upgrade (or even build) transmission links to support their projects… well, that’s just a bit too much.

Add to this disincentive that developers can pick and choose where they play – not just across LatAm, but on a global basis – governments would be well advised to do their best to lure them in, not turn them off.

The digital infrastructure evolution is gathering pace in LatAm, matched by the emphasis to install dedicated power generation to support that growing business.

This – and the market in general – is being supported by massive investment into battery energy storage solutions (BESS)… and that’s no just in Chile, it’s region-wide.

As one source says: “There will be increased focus on BESS. We are already seeing it, and – with the right ingredients – the sector will become very hot, very soon.”

Talking to lenders, there is a feeling that long-term debt solutions need to come from local or international debt capital markets as traditional bank debt providers face more stringent regulation on capital ratios.

The focus will continue to be on commodities, energy and critical infrastructure to move goods (ports) while M&A is expected to tick up significantly in the short term.

Oh, there’s just too much to focus on for one story, but the overwhelming sense from IJ LatAm was that the future looks good, but not without its challenges.

But not quite as challenging as walking through sheet glass, using your nose as a battering ram.