Venezuela Sells $900 Mln in Bonds to China and Qatar, FT Says
June 13 (<a href=quote.bloomberg.com>Bloomberg) -- Venezuela sold $900 million of bonds to China and Qatar this week, the Financial Times reported, citing unidentified people in London and Caracas.
The debt sale was a private placement, the FT said, a transaction in which securities are sold directly to the buyers rather than through a public offering.
Finance Minister Tobias Nobrega also is considering offering investors an exchange of existing foreign-currency bonds for new longer-term debt, the report said. Nobrega met with investors in London last week, the FT said.
Venezuela is trying to stretch out debt payments after losing about $4 billion in revenue during a strike in December and January aimed at ousting President Hugo Chavez. The economy shrank 29 percent in the first quarter, the worst recession in the South American country's history.
The government swapped about $2.7 billion in domestic debt last year and another $445 million this year.
Chinese companies are competing to participate in a $675 million paper pulp project with Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana, Venezuela's state heavy-industries holding company. The company plans to pick a partner this year.
(Financial Times 6-13, 45)
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