Venezuela übernimmt Kontrollanteil an CANTV

Der venezolanische Präsident Hugo Chavez hat gestern bekannt gegeben, dass die Regierung des Landes nun einen Kontrollanteil an der CANTV, dem größten Telekommunikationsunternehmen des Landes, für 1,3 Mrd. USD übernommen hat.
Dies ist ein weiterer Schritt Venezuelas bei der Verstaatlichung vieler Industriezweige.
Die Regierung hält jetzt 86,2 % an der CA Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela. Zuvor lag der Anteil der Regierung nur bei 6,6 %. Die Aktien wurden durch Ausschreibungen ab den Börsen in Caracas und New York gekauft.

Bei der nächsten Aktionärsversammlung am 21. Mai wird die Regierung einen neuen Vorstand und einen neuen Präsidenten für das Unternehmen ernennen.

http://www.wallstreet-online.de/nachrich...ht/2073097.html




Venezuela buys controlling CANTV stake

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - President Hugo Chavez's government on Wednesday said it has bought a controlling stake in Venezuela's largest telecommunications company for $1.3 billion as the country moves ahead with its nationalization drive.

The government raised its stake in CA Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela to 86.2 percent from a previous 6.6 percent after buying shares through tender offer on the stock exchanges in Caracas and New York.

'Now CANTV, (Nachrichten) in effect, passes to the hands of the state. All that is left for us now is to complete a simple formality,' Telecommunications Minister Jesse Chacon said.

He said the oil-rich government is spending $1.3 billion to expand its stake, which will be paid off on May 18.

A new board of directors and company president will be appointed by the government at a May 21 shareholder meeting, 'and from that moment on CANTV will be truly Venezuelan at last,' Chacon said.

The total payment includes $572 million that Venezuela agreed in February to pay New York-based Verizon Communications Inc. for its 28.5 percent stake.

Chavez is also nationalizing electric utilities as part of what he calls a transition to a socialist economy. His government earlier this month also took over multibillion-dollar oil operations from major foreign oil companies.

Chacon said CANTV employees -- who number nearly 13,000 -- will continue to own 5.7 percent of shares while nearly 8.1 percent is to remain in the hands of private investors.

Asked if some of those shares will continue to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange as American depository shares, Chacon said that would depend on U.S. regulations since delisting would be automatic if the number of shareholders falls below 300.

The company's shares, which were last quoted at $14.75, were not trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.
Spain's Telefonica has held 6.9 percent of shares recently, and it was not immediately clear what became of those shares.

http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrich...kel-8212887.asp


Don Olafio

Two largest Venezuelan stocks delist from exchange
By Benedict Mander

Published: May 8 2007 21:34 | Last updated: May 8 2007 21:34

Venezuela’s stock market lost almost a third of its value yesterday after two of its largest and most liquid stocks were delisted, causing concern that the exchange would fall into insignificance. The removal of the shares of CANTV, Venezuela’s largest telecommunications company and until now its largest traded company, and Electricidad de Caracas, the largest remaining private electricity utility, comes after President Hugo Chávez’s announcement in January that they would be nationalised.

Analysts fear that this represents another nail in the coffin for Venezuela’s stock exchange. “By taking out two of the three most active shares on the exchange, they are condemning it to death – even more so by showing that this is a very dangerous place to be investing,” says Robert Bottome, an economist in Caracas.

The absence of the two stocks, which account for more than a third of trading on the exchange, will drastically reduce liquidity, which is already at less than $1m a day.

“I can’t help seeing Venezuela reversing into a Bolivian bourse kind of situation, where stocks are non-existent and bonds take all the traded money,” said Mark Turner, an equity analyst at Hallgarten, an independent research house based in New York.

“The Venezuelan bourse isn’t very big compared to national gross domestic product anyway, so it wouldn’t take much to turn it into a dead duck.”

Foreign investment in Venezuelan stocks was severely restricted after Mr Chávez introduced exchange controls in 2003, but options are now limited for local investors too.

As Mr Chávez threatens further nationalisations, analysts say there are few stocks with interesting prospects. Last week Mr Chávez threatened to nationalise Sidor, the country’s largest steelmaker, and the entire banking sector.

Last year the Caracas IBC index was one of the best performers in emerging markets, with a 156 per cent rise in local currency terms.

Mr Bottome says shareholders are not being compensated fairly.

“One of the mysteries is why they are getting such a low price,” he says, observing that the government is buying the shares in CANTV at little more than half the price they were issued at 15 years ago.

The government’s offer of $14.84 per package of seven shares was slightly below the market price, and well below the offer of $21 last year by Carlos Slim, who controls the Mexican telecoms giant Telmex. Analysts say the withdrawal of the shares could add to pressure on the black market exchange rate.

Buying CANTV’s American Depositary Receipts are a way for Venezuelans to access dollars, which is complicated by exchange controls and restricted local supply. They have helped to take pressure off the black market rate, which values the dollar at more than 4,000 bolivars, compared with the official rate of 2,150 bolivars.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007

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