(Bloomberg) -- A carve-out of Latin America’s largest real estate investment trust is planning to raise as much as $1.5 billion in what would be Mexico’s biggest initial public offering since 2018, according to people familiar with the deal. 

Fibra Next’s primary offering in Mexico will be backed by industrial and warehouse properties from Fibra Uno Administracion SA. The company has hired banks and held meetings with potential investors in recent weeks, but no firm date has been set for the transaction, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. 

Fibra Uno declined to comment. 

The IPO adds to a handful of offerings that have injected some life into Mexico’s stock market after an extended drought of new companies coming to market and a spate of delistings. The benchmark S&P/BMV IPC stock index has returned 12% in US dollar terms this year, outperforming a broad gauge of emerging stocks, which has lost 2%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. 

For the past year, Mexican companies have raised cash by selling equity stakes to tap into investor interest in the nearshoring trend in which manufacturers are moving supply chains closer to US consumers. Those include logistics and industrial property-focused Prologis Property Mexico SA and trucking company Grupo Traxion SAB. 

By spinning off some of its properties in a new REIT, Fibra Uno is seeking to take advantage from a growing demand for factories, warehouses and industrial parks in Mexico. The REIT will include properties from a developer owned by the El Mann family — Fibra Uno’s biggest shareholder, according to a draft prospectus. 

Casa de Bolsa BBVA Mexico is the lead bank with nine others set to place the deal, according to the draft prospectus. 

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