PdV pays 2020 bond debt tied to Citgo

Venezuelan state-owned PdV paid $949mn in principal and interest on a 2020 bond, the only one of its debt issuances that is not in default, financial sector executives told Argus.

The payments, which had been expected despite the company´s severe financial distress, saves PdV from potential bondholder claims on its US refining subsidiary Citgo. The payments were due on 27 October.

The bond payments include $842mn in principal and $107mn in interest.

The 2020 bond is secured by 50.1pc of the shares of Citgo´s indirect parent company PdV Holding. The other 49.9pc is pledged to Russian state-controlled Rosneft for an oil-backed loan of $1.5bn.

Citgo´s fate remains cloudy because of a separate court action by former Canadian mining company Crystallex, which is seeking to enforce an arbitration claim for the takeover of its gold mining assets in Venezuela.

PdV will owe another $71mn in interest in April 2019 and $842mn in principal in October 2019 on the 2020 bond.