A company affiliated with hedge fund Elliott Management has emerged as the frontrunner in the bidding for the parent company of U.S.-based Citgo, the Venezuelan refiner that has been locked in disputes for years now.
Amber Energy has made a better bid than the previous frontrunner, a consortium led by mining company Gold Reserve, Reuters reported, citing court documents. Now, the consortium must improve its bid to match Amber Energy’s or lose its chance of acquiring PDV Holding.
The Gold Reserve-led bid amounted to $7.4 billion in total. Court officer Robert Pincus endorsed the $7.38 billion bid as the “best and highest,” significantly topping the court’s $3.7 billion floor price. If finalized, it was going to mark one of the most consequential creditor seizures of a refining asset in U.S. history. Citgo, with 770,000 barrels per day of refining capacity across Louisiana, Texas, and Illinois, is a strategic player in the U.S. fuel market.
Amber Energy’s bid, on the other hand, offered $5.86 billion to PDV Holding creditors plus another $2.86 billion in settlements for claims made by the holders of a bond, on which PDV Holding’s parent, Venezuela’s PDVSA, defaulted.
The Amber Energy bid was made unsolicited earlier this month. When the submission of the bid was reported, the name of the bidder was withheld, with media calling it “Bidder B” and noting that the company had been involved in the bidding process since July.
Citgo management continues to resist the takeover and the emergence of a competing bidder may delay the court’s final decision—or drive the final price even higher. This would go towards compensating 15 creditors who have been looking for ways to recoup their losses incurred from Venezuela’s nationalization drive under Hugo Chavez and debt defaults over the period since 2017. The total that creditors are asking for is $19 billion.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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