U.S. judge clears way for more Venezuela creditors to join Citgo auction

Rusoro Mining

08/01/2024 17:22

By Marianna Parraga and Gary McWilliams
       HOUSTON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday
granted a large group of Venezuela-linked creditors rights to
participate in a January auction of shares in the parent of
Houston-based refiner Citgo Petroleum. 
    A precedent-setting lawsuit by Canadian miner Crystallex
Corp formally tied Venezuela-owned Citgo to the South American
country's debts and opened the door to some $24 billion in
claims being applied to the refining firm through an auction of
shares in a Citgo parent whose only asset is the oil refiner.   
 
    The decision still requires the group, formed by 10
companies, to comply with a Jan 12 dateline to have writs of
attachments issued against shares in Citgo's parent, PDV
Holding. No extra time was granted, and a new auction schedule
issued on Monday is not planned to be modified, the court in
Delaware said. The U.S. Treasury also has reserved the right to
rule on any winning bid.  
    O-I Glass  OI.N , Huntington Ingalls  HII.N , ACL1
Investments, Rusoro Mining  RML.V , Koch Industries and Gold
Reserve  GRZ.V  can have claims considered as additional
judgments. Another group of four creditors including Siemens
Energy  ENR1n.DE  that had filed a similar motion to be
designated additional creditors were also green-lit, U.S. Judge
Leonard Stark ruled.   
    The companies had sought to participate "with full force and
effect" in the event two of the largest creditors in the
long-running case - miner Crystallex and oil firm ConocoPhillips
 COP.N  - reach settlements with Venezuela that could end the
lawsuit.     
        Talks have been on and off for months with holders of
billions of dollars due for asset expropriations and defaulted
Venezuelan bonds seeking to settle their claims. 
    The additional creditors had argued they needed to have
equal status to protect their interests in event of a deal and
to organize their own credit bids, using their claims against
the purchase price in any sale.  
 

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Venezuela pursues debt settlement with Crystallex, Conoco,
bondholders    https://www.reuters.com/markets/venezuela-pursues-debt-settlement-with-crystallex-conoco-bondholders-2023-06-30/
A tale of setbacks as Venezuela's Citgo heads to US auction    https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/tale-setbacks-venezuelas-citgo-heads-us-auction-2023-10-22/
Which creditors will have priority for Citgo share auction?    https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/which-creditors-will-have-priority-citgo-share-auction-2023-07-27/
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 (Reporting by Marianna Parraga and Gary McWilliams)
 ((Gary.McWilliams@thomsonreuters.com; +1 469-691-7668;))