Venezuela Hires Hogan Lovells for $150 Billion Debt Overhaul as CITGO Sale Freeze Runs to June 19
Updated
Updated · Caracas Chronicles · Jun 4
Venezuela Hires Hogan Lovells for $150 Billion Debt Overhaul as CITGO Sale Freeze Runs to June 19
3 articles · Updated · Caracas Chronicles · Jun 4
Summary
June 2 brought Venezuela’s addition of Hogan Lovells as legal counsel for restructuring sovereign debt and PDVSA obligations, expanding a process Caracas launched in May with Centerview Partners as financial adviser.
More than $150 billion in liabilities is driving the push, as the government tries to show creditors it has a repayment strategy and potentially unlock $4.9 billion in frozen IMF special drawing rights.
Norm Coleman, the former Republican senator leading Hogan Lovells’ mandate, also handles strategic lobbying for Venezuela’s embassy in Washington, underscoring how closely the restructuring is tied to U.S. political and sanctions decisions.
CITGO remains a central pressure point: OFAC’s General License 5W extended the freeze on share transfers to June 19, leaving the $5.9 billion Amber Energy sale unclosed and the refiner in operational limbo.
An IMF-backed program still looks pivotal to any orderly deal, but Caracas says it has no plans to seek an IMF loan, raising the risk that aggressive claimants recover first while others are left behind.