Iberdrola to sell 2.6GW Mexican renewables portfolio as it pivots to regulated networks

Iberdrola just made its Mexico exit real. In late April, the Spanish utility completed the sale of its remaining Mexican business to Cox, handing over 2.6GW of operating capacity and closing a chapter that had already been shrinking for years. The move is not really about Mexico alone, though. It is about where Iberdrola now wants its money to work — regulated electricity networks, especially in the UK and US, where returns are steadier and growth is tied to grid build-out rather than wholesale power swings. ### What exactly did Iberdrola sell? The package was bigger than a pure renewables disposal. It included 2,600MW already in operation — 1,368MW from combined-cycle and cogeneration plants and 1,232MW from wind and solar — plus commercial operations and a project pipeline that Cox says it wants to develop further in Mexico. So the headline may focus on renewables, but the actual transaction was a full operating platform. ### How much money are we talking about? The agreed price was about $4.2 billion when Iberdrola announced the sale in July 2025. Coverage around the closing has also framed it as roughly $4 billion or about €3.6 billion, which is just exchange-rate drift and closing-date shorthand more than a contradiction. The important bit is that Iberdrola turned a non-core generation portfolio into several billion dollars of fresh balance-sheet room. ### Why is Iberdrola doing this now? Because the company has decided the better use of capital is networks. Iberdrola has said the Mexico sale helps fund a €55 billion investment plan centered on transmission and distribution subsidiaries in the US, UK, Brazil, and Spain. Basically, it is rotating out of merchant-style generation exposure and into regulated assets where allowed returns are set by regulators and earnings are usually more predictable. ### Why do networks look so attractive? The latest quarter shows why. Iberdrola’s Q1 2026 adjusted net profit rose 11% to €1.865 billion, and adjusted EBITDA reached €4.1 billion. Networks EBITDA grew 9%, helped by a larger regulated asset base, stronger UK performance, and the consolidation of Electricity North West. In plain English — the grid business is doing the heavy lifting. ### Why does the UK matter so much here? Because UK networks are becoming one of Iberdrola’s clearest growth engines. Higher investment, a bigger asset base, and the ENW consolidation all boosted the quarter. That makes the strategy easier to read: sell assets in markets that are less central, then double down where the regulatory framework lets you earn on long-lived grid spending. ### What changes for contractors and suppliers? More scrutiny, basically. When an owner shifts toward regulated networks, the tolerance for schedule slippage usually falls. Grid projects earn through timely energisation and clean handover, not just through getting steel in the ground. That means EPC contractors, equipment suppliers, and is an inference from Iberdrola’s capital mix shift, not a newly announced procurement rule. ### Is Iberdrola leaving Mexico entirely? From a generation-business standpoint, yes — this transaction was described by Iberdrola and deal coverage as the completion of the sale of its business in Mexico. The company had already sold 55% of its Mexican business in an earlier deal, and this latest disposal clears out the remainder. So the story is less “portfolio pruning” and more “full exit from that business line.” ### What is the bottom line? Iberdrola is trading one kind of utility risk for another. It is giving up generation assets in Mexico to free cash for grid investment in markets where regulators, not power prices, drive returns. That can make earnings sturdier. But the catch is execution — once networks become the center of the story, delays and messy handovers matter more.