Venezuela plans government company stock sale

CARACAS, VENEZUELA » Venezuela’s government is seeking private investors to pump funds into vital but crippled state-run companies, decades after seizing them in the name of socialism.

The government on Monday intends to offer 5% to 10% stakes in companies ranging from telephone and internet service providers to a petrochemical producer. In another country, those industries might be attractive targets for investors, but questions remain as to who would be willing or able to take a minority position in the Venezuelan companies that have suffered from years of neglect and mismanagement.

Adding to the mystery is lack of details including what

price it is seeking for shares in the companies and on what stock market they might be listed. Some are speculating the move could be a first step toward returning the compa

nies to private hands.

“We need capital for the development of all public companies,” Maduro said during a televised event Wednesday. “We need technology. We need new markets, and we are going to move forward.”

It’s a marked departure from Maduro’s predecessor, the late President Hugo Chávez, who nationalized many companies in his bid to transform the South American country into a socialist state. Among the companies Maduro mentioned are CANTV and its subsidiary Movilnet, petrochemical producer Petroquimica de Venezuela and a conglomerate focused in the mining sector.

The country is still under economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and other countries that prevent investors from being able to funnel money to Venezuela’s state- owned companies. And the percentages Maduro announced would not give private investors decisionmaking powers to undertake much-needed changes.

AP Pedestrians walk past an out of service National Telephone Co. of Venezuela, CANTV, phone booth, in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday. A number of Venezuelan state-owned companies, including in the telecommunications sector, will sell up to 10% of their shares.