A federal judge put in motion a sale process for Venezuela’s stake in Citgo Petroleum Corp. “up to and including selecting a winning bid,” even as the U.S. government continues to block any change in control of the Houston-based refiner, WSJ Pro Bankrupty reported. Judge Leonard Stark of the U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Del., approved a sale procedure for the shares of Citgo’s U.S. holding company, a valuable state asset controlled by the U.S.-backed opposition to Venezuela’s authoritarian regime. The shares can’t be transferred under current U.S. sanctions on Venezuela, blocking the country’s many unpaid creditors from seizing them for repayment. The judge nonetheless authorized a special master on Wednesday to conduct a marketing and sales process for the shares, while saying they can’t be transferred unless the recipient obtains permission from the Treasury Department. Judge Stark said he was authorizing a “contingent auction” that wouldn’t transfer the shares’ legal title until the winning bidder held a specific license from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
