A federal court in Delaware last week approved an end to the Venezuelan Citgo Petroleum saga, authorizing the sale of the company’s parent PDVSA to an affiliate of Elliott Investment Management for $5.9 billion.
The bid, by Elliott’s Amber Energy, includes an agreement to pay $2.1 billion to the holders of a defaulted Venezuelan bond.
The court authorization may be the climax of a two-year court-ordered auction designed to pay 15 creditors who remain from defaulted debts stemming from the 2011 expropriation of Venezuelan assets owned by what are now PDVSA creditors. The Venezuelan government acquired Citgo through PDVSA in 1990.
The litigation behind the auction, initiated in 2017 by the mining corporation Crystallex against PDVSA, has not been without its own drama.
First, the court found PDV liable for the debt resulting from the Venezuelan government’s action. More recently, the court essentially reopened the auction when it received a counteroffer to Amber Energy’s apparent winning bid. The bid, supported by several creditors, was made by Gold Reserve, a Bermuda-based mining company traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange, which holds its own $1.18 billion claim against PDVSA.
In October, Gold Reserve had filed for a stay in the final auction process, but Judge Leonard Stark decided to accept as final the bid recommended earlier this year by a court officer overseeing the auction.
The earlier Amber bid itself had been rejected by key creditors, opening the door for the Gold Reserve bid. And a handful of those creditors, including Crystallex, Rusoro Mining and Koch, all of whom supported the Gold Reserve bid, say they may appeal the ruling.
The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, and Amber Energy CEO Gregory Goff is expected to lead the company, which will continue to operate as Citgo.
Barclays served as financial advisor to Amber Energy, alongside Citi and Perella Weinberg. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan served as their outside legal counsel.