Cisneros Group’s US$ 1 Billion Venezuela Fund Steers Clear of Oil
Venezuela · INVESTMENT
Key Facts
- —Fund Intrépida targets US$ 1 billion and could grow to US$ 2 billion.
- —Committed Two thirds of the capital was pledged when the fund was announced.
- —Sectors Farming, property, infrastructure, basic services and telecommunications are named; oil and mining are excluded.
- —Occasion Adriana Cisneros set out the plan at the Caracas Stock Exchange in April 2026.
- —Sanctions Washington opened Venezuelan telecommunications to investment talks on 21 August 2026.
Adriana Cisneros wants to invest in Venezuela again, but the family’s oil disputes sit one branch away.
The Cisneros Organization is raising a private fund of US$ 1 billion to invest in Venezuela. Its chief executive has ruled out oil and mining, the two sectors Washington is negotiating over directly.
A fund with a name and a domicile
The Cisneros Organization is assembling a private vehicle called Intrépida. It targets US$ 1 billion and could stretch to US$ 2 billion if demand holds.
Two thirds of the capital was already committed when the fund was presented. Backers include United States family offices, Latin American investors and sovereign funds from Dubai and Qatar.
Intrépida is domiciled legally and for tax purposes in the United States. Ariel Prat, the group’s chief financial officer, has described the structure as deliberately American.
The group said in August that money should start moving within months. No single transaction has been announced, and no company has been named as a target.
Who said it, when and where
Adriana Cisneros, chief executive officer of the Cisneros Organization, set out the plan in April 2026. She spoke at the Bolsa de Valores de Caracas, the Caracas Stock Exchange.
The remarks came at a press encounter that the exchange organised in mid-April. Agencia EFE, the Spanish news agency, returned to the story on 26 August 2026.
“Vamos a invertir en los sectores en los que nos sentimos cómodos,” she said. That translates as a plan to put money into sectors where the group feels comfortable.
“Hay receptividad para invertir en Venezuela,” she added, describing appetite among investors. She said important steps were being taken towards reconstruction.
This is not a single interview in a single outlet. Reuters, Bloomberg Línea, Banca y Negocios and Agencia EFE have each carried the plan to invest in Venezuela.
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The sectors named, and the ones ruled out
Cisneros named agro-industry, real estate, infrastructure, basic services and telecommunications. Hydrocarbons and mining were excluded expressly.
At the April event the group also flagged luxury tourism built around environmental sustainability. Reuters reported healthcare as a further area under study.
No figure has been attached to any single sector. The US$ 1 billion headline is the only number the group has put in public.
That makes the sector list a statement of intent rather than a budget. Anyone tracking plans to invest in Venezuela should read it on those terms.
What the Cisneros Organization owns today
The group has run from Miami since March 2000, when it moved its operating base. It was founded in Caracas in 1929 by Diego Cisneros, the current chief executive’s grandfather.
Since 2013 it has been organised into Cisneros Media, Cisneros Interactive and Cisneros Real Estate. Venevisión, the Venezuelan broadcaster, remains the best known asset.
Cisneros Real Estate is building Tropicalia in the Dominican Republic, a resort with a Four Seasons hotel. The group also holds Laboratorios Fisa, a personal care business.
Entravision Communications took a majority stake in Cisneros Interactive in an announcement dated 15 October 2020. The group kept a minority holding, and financial terms were not disclosed.
The group’s own August dossier puts its stake in AST SpaceMobile at roughly 10 percent. That satellite venture now sits close to the centre of how it describes itself.
A long retreat, and one unconfirmed exit
The retreat came long before the current plan to invest in Venezuela took shape. Pepsi-Cola Venezuela and the Yukery brands went to Empresas Polar in 1996.
The family’s Univision stake was sold in 2007, in a consortium deal valued at US$ 13.7 billion. Chilevisión, bought in 1993, later passed to the Bancard holding of Sebastián Piñera.
DirecTV Latin America no longer appears in the group’s published portfolio. The date and the terms of that exit remain unconfirmed.
Cervecería Regional is not part of this group at all. The brewery sits with Cisneros Corporation, run by the successors of Ricardo Cisneros.
Three branches, one surname
The family split formally in 2008, when brothers Gustavo and Ricardo divided the business. Three separate groups now trade under the Cisneros name.
The Cisneros Organization under Adriana Cisneros holds Venevisión, Tropicalia and the new fund. Cisneros Corporation holds Cervecería Regional and the Leones del Caracas baseball club.
The succession of Oswaldo Cisneros, who died in 2020, controls the mobile operator Digitel. It also owns the oil claim that has drawn the most attention this year.
On 26 August 2026 the Cisneros Organization published a dossier distancing itself from that claim. It said a fact affecting one branch allows no inference about the other two.
The oil disputes one branch away
DP Delta Finance, held by the Oswaldo Cisneros succession, owned 40 percent of Petrodelta. That joint venture with PDVSA, Petróleos de Venezuela, held drilling rights until 2042.
The Ministry of Hydrocarbons reversed the stake between May and June 2026. Caracas said Petrodelta missed investment, exploration and infrastructure obligations, which the company denies.
On 15 August 2026 its legal adviser, Juan Domingo Alfonzo Paradisi, called the move a confiscation. The company puts its claim against the state at about US$ 2 billion.
A similar fight surrounds Petrocabimas, another PDVSA joint venture in the west of the country. Spain’s Suelopetrol and Globalable Holding, tied to Ricardo Cisneros, have contested the private stake since 2024.
In August 2026 Suelopetrol asked the Spanish government for help. It warned that it would use international protection mechanisms if the fields changed hands.
Where United States sanctions stand
No Venezuela executive order has been revoked. Executive Orders 13808, 13835, 13850 and 13884 were all still in force in March 2026.
Under Executive Order 13884 the property of the Venezuelan government stays blocked. PDVSA, the gold miner Minerven and the central bank remain designated.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, has eased matters through general licences instead. Those cover oil, gas, petrochemicals, electricity and, since 6 March 2026, gold exports.
On 21 August 2026 OFAC issued General Licences 61 and 62 for telecommunications. The second authorises negotiations and contingent contracts for new investment in that sector.
Farming, property and tourism have no equivalent licence. Anyone planning to invest in Venezuela in those areas must still steer around blocked state counterparties.
Frequently Asked Questions
How big is the Cisneros fund for Venezuela?
Intrépida targets US$ 1 billion and could grow to US$ 2 billion. Two thirds of that capital was committed when the fund was announced.
Which sectors does the fund avoid?
Hydrocarbons and mining are ruled out. The group says it will invest in Venezuela in farming, property, infrastructure, basic services and telecommunications instead.
Do United States sanctions still restrict investors?
Yes, the core executive orders remain in force and the Venezuelan government stays blocked. General licences have opened oil, gold and, on 21 August 2026, telecommunications.
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Sources
- www.el-carabobeno.com
- contrapunto.com
- www.bancaynegocios.com
- www.bancaynegocios.com
- www.bloomberglinea.com
- www.bancaynegocios.com
- www.cisneros.com
- www.cisneros.com
- ofac.treasury.gov
- www.faegredrinker.com
- www.df.cl
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