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Venezuela nationalizes its largest electricity
company
The Venezuelan government has acquired the
nation's largest private electricity company for
us$836.9 million dollars, a further move toward
the nationalization of the South American
country's strategic industries.
In a statement released on Thursday, the
state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela
SA (PDVSA) said that it had bought 93 percent of
the shares in Electricidad de Caracas (EDC),
including an 82-percent stake from AES Corp., a
Virginia-based U.S. company.
In January 2007, the Venezuelan government
announced its plan to nationalize the oil,
telecommunications and electric sectors.
On Wednesday the government acquired the
Compania Anonima Telefonos de Venezuela (Cantv),
Venezuela's largest telecommunications firm, for
us$1.3 billion dollars, obtaining a total of
86.2 percent of its shares.
The government has already taken control of the
nation's petrol fields, via joint-venture
agreements which leave companies from the United
States, France, Norway and Britain as minority
shareholders.
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