Auction of shares of PDVSA subsidiary on North American soil advances in US

He Department of Treasury The US announced on Monday PDV will not take “compulsory measures” to prevent a bid on Holding’s shares or negotiate a dealHolding Company CitcoA subsidiary of state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) on American soil.

The Treasury said in a statement that it will not take action against “any person or entity participating in, facilitating or complying with preliminary proceedings” established by a Delaware court (US) to sell or acquire shares. Transactions required for it.

Delaware Judge Leonard Stark allowed it to proceed in January 2021 Selling Citgo shares to compensate Canadian mining giant Crystallex A gold deposit held by a mining company in Venezuela was up for nationalization a decade ago.

In October 2022, the same magistrate approved the schedule for the auction of Citco Holding Company’s shares.

Despite this decision, due to US sanctions on Venezuela, The sale cannot proceed without the permission of the Property Control Office of the Treasury Department (OFAC). The schedule lists a six-month window, until this April, to consult with OFAC about the procedure.

The Treasury agreed this Monday that, as indicated in the Crystalex case, it must disclose After evaluating the potential buyer’s identity, additional license in the future before executing any sale.

However, he anticipated that OFAC would “prefer to implement a favorable licensing policy for such applications.” According to the court order, Citco is valued at about $12 billion and Crystallex’s debt is $970 million.

Citco, based in Houston, Texas, has three refineries in the United States that process about 769,000 barrels per day of Venezuelan crude.

The Chavista regime described the case against Cidco as a “fraud” and accused the opposition of wanting to “appropriate Venezuela’s assets abroad” and “provide assets” to foreign powers through a “colossal procedural fraud”.

The US government in January extended for three months a license barring PTVSA 2020 bondholders from exercising the guarantee offered by Citco’s majority shareholder, which had expired on the 20th of that month. The provision prohibited transactions involving the sale or exchange of CITCO shares in connection with the bond.

(with information from EFE)

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