Iberdrola Out, Cox In

This article originally appeared in the July 31, 2025 edition of Sin Embargo.

Mexico City. Energy company Iberdrola announced Thursday that it has sold its Mexican business assets to the Spanish group Cox for $4.2 billion. Iberdrola controls six wind farms and three solar farms in the country, as well as power and gas plants.

In a statement , the multinational Cox explained that its investment target for Mexico , from 2025 to 2030, is $10.7 billion, and that it will participate in the creation of a development hub for Mexican well-being. It also highlighted the country’s “legal certainty” and its “broad potential.”

“The transaction seeks to leverage Cox’s established presence and deep knowledge of the Mexican market, strengthening its position in strategic, high-growth markets through a strategic investment aligned with the company’s objectives of investing in assets that generate recurring, long-term EBITDA [Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization], as outlined in its IPO last November,” the business group explained.

The transaction scope includes 15 power plants with an installed operating capacity of 2,600 megawatts (MW), of which 1,368 MW correspond to combined-cycle and cogeneration plants; 1,232 MW of renewable assets; and a generation project portfolio of 12 gigawatts (GW).

It also includes Mexico’s largest supplier, with a 25 percent market share, providing more than 20 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity distributed among more than 500 major customers.

A few days ago, the Spanish newspaper El Confidencial reported that Iberdrola had hired Barclays Bank to sell 15 plants, mainly renewable energy plants, that it maintains in Mexico, while publicly announcing a five billion euro capital increase in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Press reports explained that Iberdrola had withdrawn from Mexico due to the “lack of legal certainty” within the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo.

In February of last year, Iberdrola completed the sale of 13 power plants for approximately six billion dollars to Mexico, then governed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). This represented 55 percent of the Spanish company’s assets at the time.

Cox Says Mexico is Ideal for Investment

This perspective is completely different from that of Grupo Cox, which stated that the investment landscape in Mexico is encouraging.

“Given its legal security, Mexico represents a strategic market for Cox. It has set an investment target of $10.7 billion in Mexico for the period 2025-2030, including investment in the Iberdrola México platform; investment in new energy assets for more than $4 billion, in concessionary water assets in the country of up to $1.5 billion, and a development hub for Mexican Bienestar. In addition to expanding the investment by co-investing in new generation projects with the CFE,” the company stated.

The company stated that Mexico is positioned as the second-largest electricity market in Latin America, supported by solid macroeconomic fundamentals and an investment-grade economy , sustained by a responsible fiscal policy.

“The country offers significant potential for greater penetration and growth in the electricity sector, supported by a solid and stable banking system. Furthermore, it faces growing demand that requires substantial investments. Given this scenario, and with a consolidated presence in the Mexican market for several years, Cox is strategically positioned to assume management of Iberdrola’s platform in Mexico and capitalize on the growth this strategic market offers,” he concluded.