Pemex discussing up to $4b fund with Chinese companies

Petroleos Mexicanos, the state-owned oil producer, is in talks with Chinese companies to create a fund valued at up to $4 billion to invest and finance projects.

The proposed arrangement is in the "final stage of negotiations," Pemex, as the Mexico City-based oil producer is known, said in an e-mailed statement on Wednesday, correcting an earlier filing that said a deal had already been signed.

The Sino-Mex Energy Fund would be the largest Chinese investment fund in Latin America, according to the earlier statement sent to the Mexican Stock Exchange. The prospective agreement between Pemex's international unit PMI Comercio Internacional and Chinese companies including Xinxing Ductile Iron Pipes Co Ltd and SPF Capital Hong Kong Ltd, would finance large-scale projects and create jobs.