Much of the fall can surely be attributed to a number of articles that essentially declared that the auction is over.
The Worst offender was Bloomberg. Their headline:
Elliott Affiliate Wins Citgo Auction With $7.3 Billion Bid
The Elliot affiliate hasn't won anything yet. As if the title weren't bad enough, here's what follows:
(Bloomberg) -- An Elliott Investment Management affiliate won an auction for Citgo Petroleum Corp.’s parent company with a bid for $7.3 billion, clearing a key hurdle in the fund’s push to acquire an oil refiner that was once Venezuela’s largest foreign asset.
The affiliate, Amber Energy Inc., submitted the best bid for Citgo’s US parent, PDV Holding, Robert Pincus, the court-appointed special master who oversaw the process, said in a filing Friday. Pincus must still make a formal, final recommendation and then federal Judge Leonard Stark in Delaware must approve it.
Amber won out over other suitors interested in wresting control of Citgo from Petroleos de Venezuela SA, Venezuela’s state-owned oil company. The sale is intended to satisfy Venezuela creditors holding more than $20 billion in claims, but the sale price may leave many investors with no compensation.
“We thank the special master for selecting Amber Energy as the successful bidder and recommending that the court approve Amber Energy’s acquisition” of Citgo, Amber Chief Executive Officer Gregory Goff said in a statement. “We look forward to partnering with the people of Citgo to ensure that the company continues to operate with the highest standards of safety and reliability.”
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Pardon me, but Amber Energy doesn't get to take a final bow just yet. The arrogance of that CEO. You're looking forward to partnering with Citgo, eh? Not until the Court says you get to.
A bit of credit for Bloomberg in that they actually did mention the upcoming 45-day chance-to-outbid period--in paragraph 5.
But it looks like many readers pressed the sell button before even getting to paragraph 5.
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Maybe even worse than the Bloomberg headline, from the Wall Street Journal:
Elliott-Led Group Named As Winner of Auction to Acquire Venezuela’s Citgo Petroleum
continuing:
Elliott Investment Management and other U.S. investors have been named as the winning bidder in a court-ordered auction for control of Venezuela’s oil refiner Citgo Petroleum designed to pay down the bankrupt country’s debts.
========== This is so dumb. My head hurts.
Gee, no wonder GRZ was hammered.