(Bloomberg) -- An affiliate of Elliott Investment Management put forth an alternative offer to buy oil refiner Citgo Petroleum Corp. in a move that’s meant to address mounting criticism of its initial bid.
The new proposal by the affiliate, Amber Energy Inc., is $2 billion less than its original offer, according to a legal filing. The company also offered a different structure in an attempt to assuage some creditors who had complained about the terms of the initial bid.
Under the new terms, creditors would be paid directly when the purchase is finalized instead of through a trust structure, which had sparked backlash from a long list of Venezuela creditors who are expecting to collect from the sale.
Amber Energy’s alternative bid is a new wrinkle in the years-long legal case over the future of PDV Holding, the parent company of Citgo, which is owned by Venezuela but based in the US and operates refineries and other energy assets. Creditors that are owed more than $20 billion by Venezuela have lined up to collect from a court-ordered sale of PDV Holding.
The special master will consider both the original and alternative proposals during a so-called topping period in which other interested buyers could submit competing offers, according to the filing. If another option is selected, Elliott’s affiliate is requesting to receive a termination fee of 3% of enterprise value minus some deductions.
The filing also details that investors holding Petroleos de Venezuela SA bonds that matured in 2020 would be paid through a separate escrow account. Those bonds were little changed Thursday and trade for about 90 cents on the dollar, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
In September, a court-appointed special master chose Amber’s $7.3 billion bid as the winner, contingent on some related claims being settled. While that offer is still valid, the alternative removes some of the most problematic provisions, including how the creditors will be paid. It also changes closing conditions, now requiring that the sale order be affirmed by the Third Circuit.
It’s still unclear whether the new version will settle objections made by both creditors and Venezuela, which is represented in US courts by the country’s political opposition. Around 96% of the creditors seeking to collect from the sale filed some sort of objection, making the original bid unlikely to survive, according to a report by Barclays Plc.
The case is Crystallex International Corp. v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 17-mc-00151, US District Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.