US Judge Delays Final Citgo Parent Auction After Elliott, Vitol Submit Bids

A U.S. federal court in Delaware has postponed the final hearing that was expected next week to select a winning bid for shares in the parent of Venezuela-owned refiner Citgo Petroleum, according to a court order filed on Thursday. Judge Leonard Stark agreed to reschedule the hearing after court officer Robert Pincus said two unsolicited offers—one tied to Elliott Investment Management and another to commodities trader Vitol—had been submitted, complicating his earlier recommendation that a subsidiary of miner Gold Reserve be declared the auction’s winner. The judge said a new date will be set once he receives feedback from Pincus, the bidders and the more than a dozen creditors seeking to collect on Venezuelan debt, including lead plaintiff Crystallex. An in-person conference is scheduled for Monday to hear the parties’ views. The delay prolongs an eight-year litigation that began when Crystallex sought compensation for the expropriation of its assets in Venezuela and could further stall creditors’ efforts to seize Citgo’s U.S. operations, one of the South American nation’s most valuable overseas assets.