Over the past four years, the Brazilian capital market has been dominated by the narrative that there will be a shortage of paper on the local stock exchange. IPOs have disappeared, share offerings have become rare, and a series of companies have decided to go private.

But B3 has an argument against this (apparent) loss of relevance. On the program Números Falam, CFO André Milanez stated that there is a queue of companies prepared to access the capital market.

"If you look at the pipeline of companies that are preparing to go public, we have at least 50 that already have their registration as publicly traded companies approved, just waiting for the right moment," Milanez stated on the NeoFeed program in partnership with CNN Brazil .

"There are between 50 and 100 companies that could come to market when we have more favorable conditions," he added on the program, which airs every other Friday at 7:45 pm on CNN Money .

According to him, the problem is not a lack of candidates to go public, but a lack of more robust demand from investors.

This means that the current difficulty lies not in the supply of projects, but in the financial environment, which still limits investors' appetite. "Our problem is not supply, it's demand," Milanez stated.

The explanation lies mainly in the benchmark interest rate. With the Selic rate still in double digits, a large portion of local capital continues to find attractive returns in fixed-income instruments, reducing the incentive to take on the additional risk of stocks.

In the executive's view, this difference helps to explain the distinct behavior between Brazilian and foreign investors.

While local investors still find high returns on conservative investments, foreign investors observe a stock market that continues to trade at significant discounts compared to other global markets.

It was no coincidence that the net inflow of foreign capital into the Brazilian stock exchange reached R$ 53.8 billion in the first quarter, a volume higher than that recorded during the entire year of 2025.

But even with this improvement, and the Compass IPO that unlocked a market that had been stagnant for four years, the reopening of the window for new offerings is not yet definitive. "I think it's too early to say that the market has unlocked," said Milanez.

Pragmatism of going private

On the other hand, the Brazilian stock market is experiencing a series of delistings that fuels doubts about the attractiveness of the local stock exchange.

B3 is quite pragmatic about this dynamic. When shares trade at prices considered low by controlling shareholders, the tendency is for some entrepreneurs to choose to buy back their companies and take them private.

When valuations improve and the cost of capital falls, new companies find incentives to make the opposite move.

"In times when we have a market downturn, it's natural to see companies or entrepreneurs deciding to take actions such as going private," said the CFO.

"When you have more favorable times, it opens up opportunities for new businesses," he added.