Venezuelan telecom rallies on Maduro plan to list state assets

Bloomberg

Shares in Venezuela’s state-owned telecommunications company soared this week in Caracas as the government announced plans to offer stakes in public companies, boosting expectations for a revival in the local market.
Cia. Anonima Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela SA, or CANTV, surged 41% in two days, according to Caracas Stock Exchange data, after President Nicolas Maduro said his government was going to list 5% to 10% of the shares of public companies for national and international investment.
Maduro made comments in a televised address, mentioning CANTV, a state-owned petrochemical company, and oil and gas joint ventures as examples of companies that could soon start to raise capital. Offerings would start soon, Maduro said, without adding further details.
“These shares are rallying on the expectation that the government led by President Nicolas Maduro is going to start privatising state-owned companies and that it’s going to do so in a more transparent, institutional way through the stock exchange,” said Jose Miguel Farias, an independent local investment adviser and broker. “Despite the lack of information, for many investors with an appetite for risk, it’s worth accumulating positions in these state companies hoping that, in the long run, that leads to them discovering their real value.”
The announcement could mean a historic shift in Venezuela’s socialist economic policy, where years of currency and price controls, expropriations and corruption led the country to one of the longest bouts of hyperinflation in history and a seven-year recession. As the crises deepened, Maduro has been forced to ease restrictions and allow an unofficial dollarisation, which has helped breathe new life into a dormant market.