Chavez Sidor Valuation Falls Short

The Venezuelan government has assigned a value of $800m to steel processor Sidor, the state-owned news agency reports, a fraction of what its owner was expecting. Shareholders of Ternium, the Argentine holding company for Sidor, had placed a value of $3.2bn-$4.8bn on the asset. But president Chavez dismissed the valuation and threatened to nationalize the company by decree if an agreement could not be reached between the current owners and the government. The two sides met Monday to discuss the deal. Brazilian steel processor Usiminas owns 14.3% of Ternium, which has 57% of Sidor, according to BBI.