Companies Look to Once-Dead Caracas Stock Market as Volumes Soar

day][76fxg]}fn9r97iw1ygs_media_dl_1.png Bloomberg

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(Bloomberg) — A raft of Venezuelan companies are looking to sell shares on the local stock exchange as the market wakes up after more than a decade of near paralysis under the socialist rule of former president Nicolas Maduro.

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Around 10 local companies are expected to make initial or secondary share offerings in the local market in the next four months as trading volumes soar, said Jose Grasso Vecchio, president of the Caracas Stock Exchange. The exchange itself is offering 2.6 million new shares in an offer that launched last week.

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The market “is recovering at an amazing pace,” Grasso Vecchio said in an interview from his office. “Interest is very high.” 

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Activity on the exchange picked up last year after some 15 years of torpor triggered by hyperinflation, exchange controls and restrictive government policies. But it was after Maduro’s capture by US forces in January that things really began to change. Acting President Delcy Rodriguez has since cooperated with the Donald Trump administration to open up the economy and boost investment in the energy sector, prompting Washington to ease some restrictions on the country.

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Grasso Vecchio expects trading volumes to top $1 billion in 2026 for the first time in almost two decades, even as restrictions remain on banks and foreigners to invest. Volumes are up 30% in the first quarter from the same period of 2025, helping to push up the benchmark index almost 60% in dollar terms in the year to date, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

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The exchange currently has fewer than 40 listed companies, down from almost 100 in the late 1990s, before Hugo Chavez first became president and ushered in a quarter-century of socialism. Total market capitalization in dollars stands at about $20 billion, almost double from last year, according to data gathered by Caracas-based brokerage Fivenca. 

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The rally in the index this year is nearly four times the gain posted by an index of Latin American stocks in the same period. Companies from cement manufacturers, real estate funds and a rum maker are showing three-digit returns.

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New issuers “are taking advantage of the interest and the fact that valuations are relatively high,” said Carmelo Haddad, managing director at Knossos Funds. “This market is too small and too illiquid for large and sophisticated players, but there are many smaller funds that want to get in.”

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If the government also takes advantage of this window by listing state-owned companies, including in the oil and gas sector, it would give the market a major push, he added.

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Grasso Vecchio said access for foreign investors has improved slightly, but registration is still limited. While there is a “mutual interest” between the local market and the government to attract capital from overseas, change may be slow. 

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“Those asking for it to move faster don’t understand the complexity,” he said.

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