Curaçao’s fledgling stock exchange intended to attract Latin American companies seeking to raise money from European investors. Instead, Chinese firms came.
Water Years Holdings’ 2017 debut on the Dutch Caribbean Securities Exchange (DCSX) opened the floodgates for Chinese companies to list on the exchange. Credit: DCSX
When Water Years Holdings, a small Chinese firm that sells wine and candy made from blueberries, was looking to go public in 2017, there were few options. The company, which had earned a profit of less than $50,000 in the prior year, was too small to qualify for a listing on the Shanghai or Hong Kong stock exchanges. New York and Singapore were also out of the question.
So company executives hopped on a flight to Curaçao, a small Dutch territory about 40 miles off the coast of Venezuela, to join the Dutch Caribbean Securities Exchange (DCSX). It was one of the island’s first Chinese listings, and in the bourse’s ceremonial hall, executives banged a ceremonial gong and exchanged champagne toasts with Curaçao power brokers, such as the territory’s minister of finance.
Credit: Free Vector Maps
“In the future, there will be a steady flow of Chinese companies entering Europe’s capital market,” Liu Yang, the chairman of Water Years, said at a press conference held in B
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