A U.S. federal court auctioning shares of PDV Holding Inc., the parent company of Venezuela-owned Citgo Petroleum, has received an unexpected competing bid, adding a fresh twist to the high-value sale intended to compensate creditors for expropriations and debt defaults.
The court-appointed Special Master, Robert Pincus, revealed the unsolicited offer in a Thursday filing, withholding both the bidder's identity and the date of submission.
The development comes shortly after a $7.4 billion proposal from a group led by a subsidiary of Canadian miner Gold Reserve was recommended as the winning bid in the most recent auction round. That recommendation remains subject to judicial approval, with several creditors and rival bidders raising objections.
Gold Reserve confirmed on Friday that in early July, the court authorized Pincus to engage with the competing "Bidder B" and restored its access to a secure data room containing key financial and operational information on Citgo.
Since then, Pincus has been in continuous discussions with the rival bidder, who is actively seeking agreements from parties whose approval is necessary for the transaction.
Despite the ongoing talks, Pincus has not yet deemed the competing offer superior to Gold Reserve's proposal. The court's eventual decision on whether to accept the new bid could determine the fate of Citgo's ownership and the distribution of billions in proceeds to long-standing creditors.
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May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.