Elliott defends Citgo offer in the face of creditors' objections
Hedge fund unit has Barclays, Citibank debt commitment letter
Says Citgo assets 'deteriorating', urges acceptance of its bid
By Gary McWilliams
HOUSTON, Oct 21 (Reuters) -Hedge fund Elliott Investment Management on Monday pressed a court not to hold up its bid for Citgo Petroleum, saying the Venezuela-owned oil refiner's assets "are deteriorating in value" and creditors will not get a better offer from others.
The comments came in a court filing after creditors last week described an up to $7.3 billion conditional bid placed before the court by Elliott's wholly-owned Amber Energy as inadequate and likely to be rejected.
Elliott's wholly-owned Amber Energy repeated its threat to walk away if the court "does not address threshold issues," referring to its desire to hold back more than $2 billion of its offer as a set-aside were Venezuela bondholders to prevail in a separate lawsuit. And it wants the court to bar other lawsuits from seeking control over the same assets.
Citgo PDVSAC.UL operates three U.S. refineries, 38 terminals, six pipelines and supplies fuel to 4,200 independent retailers. The Houston-based oil refiner is the centerpiece in a U.S. District Court in Delaware's auction seeking to satisfy $21 billion in claims against Venezuela for defaults and expropriations.
In addition to Eliott's backing, Amber wrote it has obtained a debt commitment letter from Barclays BARC.L and Citigroup C.N's Citibank demonstrating its ability to finance the purchase. It also has retained an eight person refining management team ready to take over Citgo operations.
The court filing did not address other issues raised by creditors, including an undisclosed breakup fee should the deal not conclude, and opposition to other bidders accessing Citgo financial data until after the court decides on its breakup fee.
A spokesperson declined to respond to those issues.
Amber wrote its proposal is "the best and only realistic pathway for the largest number of creditors" to receive payment despite creditors calling its terms as unlikely to provide them with auction proceeds "for years - if ever."
Reporting by Gary McWilliams; Additional reporting by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Sonali Paul
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
