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Judge Stark orders reopening of Citgo data room for new

bids

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Updated financial, operational details to be available to

all

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Court expects new bids can be submitted starting early

2025

By Marianna Parraga

HOUSTON, Dec 16 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge overseeing an

auction of shares in the parent of Venezuela-owned Citgo

Petroleum on Monday agreed to reopen a data room to allow

potential buyers to prepare new bids, a court document showed.

Judge Leonard Stark ordered the data room to be opened on

Wednesday after listening to creditors in the case urge a new

bidding round. The court is auctioning shares in Citgo parent

PDV Holding to repay $21 billion in claims against Venezuela and

state oil firm PDVSA for expropriations and debt defaults.

A conditional offer of up to $7.3 billion by an affiliate of

hedge fund Elliott Investment Management had failed to gain

support from creditors, leading to the bidding restart.

"The virtual data room shall be reopened on December 18,"

Stark said in his order. A court officer supervising the auction

and creditors must present their arguments on issues still in

dispute in the coming days, he added.

For months this year, Elliott affiliate Amber Energy had

exclusive access to the data room while negotiating its bid.

That exclusivity was widely criticized by creditors and

Venezuela's lawyers as it sidelined others, they told the court.

Stark in recent weeks made public his inclinations on a new

schedule and structural changes aimed at granting a fair bidding

process for all parties, including equal access to the data room

and a termination fee.

If those proposals are confirmed, the auction could set a

stalking horse bid, which was not used in the first two bidding

rounds this year.

Amber's highly conditional offer and parallel lawsuits by

the same Venezuela-related creditors in other U.S. courts this

year soured the court's effort to craft a deal that would

satisfy creditors.

The new bidding will relaunch a process that had led to

negotiations, but no approved agreement.

An attorney for Amber on Friday confirmed that a proposed

purchase agreement with the court officer overseeing the auction

was "moot."

Amber's original offer proposed to withhold proceeds from

creditors while it settled bondholder claims, potentially

leaving little or nothing for creditors who originally brought

the case.