September 08, 2008

Venezuela puts Ternium Sidor stake worth at USD 800 million

Reuters reported that Venezuela has estimated a value of about USD 800 million for Argentine steelmaker Ternium's stake in Venezuelan steel producer Sidor.

Mr Rodolfo Sanz basic industries and mining minister said that "We have preliminarily concluded that the value of the shares of Ternium group is close to USD 800 million.”

Mr Sanz said that from the USD 800 million figures the government would subtract outstanding financial and labor debts and any debts that might result from lawsuits against Sidor. He added that one suit, a dispute over the price of natural gas Sidor pays to state oil company PDVSA, could add USD 200 million to those outstanding debts.

He said Ternium had asked for between USD 3.2 billion and USD 4.8 billion which he said does not correspond to the preliminary analysis we have carried out.