Venezuela to Purchase Verizon's 28.5% Stake in Cantv

By Matthew Craze and Alex Kennedy

Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela's government agreed today to buy Verizon Communications Inc.'s 28.5 percent stake in CA Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela as President Hugo Chavez seeks control over key industries.

Venezuela will pay $572 million for the stake, or $17.85 a share, an 11 percent premium on Cantv's closing share price of $16.08 in New York today. The deal was signed in Caracas by Jesse Chacon, Venezuela's telecommunications minister, and John Diercksen, Verizon's executive vice president of strategy and development, on Venezuela's state television channel.
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The deal has been under a cloud for a month, since Chavez said he wouldn't pay market price for Verizon's stake and planned to deduct the value of pensions owed to former workers. Cantv's American depositary receipts have fallen 18 percent so far this year in New York.
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``Today is a happy day for the Republic,'' Rodriguez said. ``We have reached an agreement that is very favorable for Venezuela.''

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