Venezuela to Pay Ternium Debt in ‘Days,’ Sanz Says (Update1)
February 25, 2010, 11:13 AM EST
(Adds share price in first, fourth paragraphs.)
By Steven Bodzin and Corina Rodriguez Pons
Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela will pay its overdue debt to Ternium SA for the nationalization of the Siderurgica del Orinoco steel mill, Mining Minister Rodolfo Sanz said today. Ternium stock climbed more than 4 percent.
“We will pay the debt with Ternium in some days,” Sanz told reporters at the national legislature. “We have always paid debts.”
Ternium said yesterday it hadn’t received payments for $298.9 million that were due Feb. 8. The payments had a 15-day grace period, the company said earlier in the month. Ternium and Venezuela negotiated for a year over the price of Sidor, as the nationalized plant is known, and reached an agreement in May.
Ternium’s stock is at risk of falling as much as $5 a share if Venezuela decides to halt mill payments, Christian Reos, head of research at Allaria Ledesma, said yesterday.
Ternium rose $1.30, or 4.3 percent, to $31.46 as of 10:55 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the biggest increase since Feb. 1. The stock has quadrupled in the past year.
