Argentina market veterans launch new brokerage amid Milei rally

Senior executives Walter Stoeppelwerth and Nicolás Chiesa obtained a brokerage licence in Argentina and will kick off operations this month as investors keep flocking into the country’s assets under Javier Milei’s government. 

Stoeppelwerth and Chiesa, who both held top roles at Buenos Aires-based brokerage Portfolio Personal Inversiones, partnered to create Grit Capital Group, according to a phone interview with the duo.

The company will start with a sales and trading desk along with a research department in Buenos Aires, but it aims to expand to asset management in the future. The fund’s founders are betting on more demand for Argentina’s assets if the country potentially lifts currency and capital controls. Milei promised to end the controls before the end of this year.  

“Bonds in local currency are one of the most important assets for emerging markets, and we are going to be ready for overseas investors who want peso bonds when the government lifts controls,” said Stoeppelwerth. “If Milei can consolidate what he is already doing, there is going to be another boom for Argentine assets.”

Chiesa added that the company will initially focus on trading fixed income products among investors, while also looking to participate in dollar bond sales by Argentine companies in the future. 

Securities from Argentina were among the top performers in 2024, with the country’s dollar bonds notching gains of more than 100 percent in 2024, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Global X MSCI Argentina, an exchange-traded fund known by its ticker ARGT, continues to see strong inflows as traders embrace Milei’s efforts to reduce inflation and budget deficits. The ETF saw assets cross the US$1-billion mark in January, up from US$104 million when Milei took office.

Former Chief Procurement Officer at Grupo Petersen Tomás Chittaro Villar and Belisario Álvarez Toledo, who worked as head trader at HSBC Argentina as recently as 2021, are also co-founders, while Joaquín Bagues, the former managing director at Novus Asset Management SA, is the chief commercial officer.