Elliott Management and Amber Energy Lead Citgo Bid

Elliott Management and Amber Energy are leading a bid to acquire Citgo, a US-based oil refiner and marketer.

Elliott Management is a prominent hedge fund known for its activist investing style, with a significant presence in the energy sector.

Amber Energy is a private energy company with a strong focus on refining and marketing petroleum products.

Elliott Management and Amber Energy's bid for Citgo is a significant development in the energy industry, with Citgo's assets and operations potentially changing hands.

Elliott Investment Management, a U.S. energy investor, is backing Amber Energy's $5.3-billion bid for Citgo's parent company, PDV Holding.

Amber Energy's initial bid was $7.3 billion, but it has been lowered to $5.3 billion to meet some demands from creditors.

The new bid offers creditors direct payment after the acquisition is finalized, which is a change from the initially proposed trust structure.

Citgo is the seventh-largest refiner in the United States, with a total capacity of 800,000 barrels per day.

The sale process of shares to pay creditors and claimants against Venezuela's oil asset appropriation and debts owed by Citgo was launched by the Delaware court in October 2023.

Creditors and claimants have sought to recoup a total of $24 billion in claims and arbitration awards against Venezuela.

Amber Energy has proposed a new bid for Citgo, which is lower in value but could meet some demands from creditors.

The court-appointed special master will consider both offers from Amber Energy and any other offers that interested buyers can submit during the topping period.

Elliott's wholly-owned Amber Energy has obtained a debt commitment letter from Barclays and Citigroup's Citibank, demonstrating its ability to finance the purchase.

Amber Energy has retained an eight-person refining management team ready to take over Citgo operations.

Amber Energy's proposal is "the best and only realistic pathway for the largest number of creditors" to receive payment, according to a court filing.

Creditors seeking proceeds from a U.S. court-ordered auction of shares in a parent of Citgo Petroleum widely criticized terms of a conditional offer selected in the second bidding round.

An Elliott Investment Management affiliate was named the presumptive winner of the share auction with a bid that puts an up to $7.286 billion enterprise value on Venezuela-owned oil refining company Citgo.

The creditors objecting to the terms of the offer would have a future opportunity to review details, but one creditor, Crystallex, said terms proposed by Elliott's Amber Energy would mean creditors who are collectively claiming $21.3 billion were "unlikely to ever be paid."

The sales process "is not ending in the way we all would have liked", said Amy Wolf, an attorney representing ConocoPhillips, which holds the largest claims in the case.

An attorney for the court officer overseeing the auction, Ray Schrock, told the court that creditors objecting to the terms would have plenty of time to see the details, but emphasized the need to "get this bid locked down and binding."