Chavez charts out agreement with steelmaker Sidor

CARACAS (VENEZUELA): Venezuela's government has reached an agreement on compensation for the nationalization of the country's largest steelmaker, President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday.

Chavez did not give details of the terms for nationalizing Sidor, but said in two months the final amount to be paid will be determined after a thorough appraisal.

"Yesterday we finally reached an agreement with the former owners," Chavez said in a televised speech. "We're taking complete control today."

The company was controlled by Luxembourg-based Ternium SA until it was officially seized in May by presidential decree. Ternium is 60 per cent owned by Italian-Argentine conglomerate Techint.

Chavez said the former owners were initially "asking for a price in the clouds _ USD 4 billion."

Chavez says his leftist government will transform Sidor into a socialist company by raising salaries and improving benefits for the steelmaker's 4,500 employees. He has said Venezuela plans to reduce Sidor's exports and increase steel supplies for domestic consumption.

It is one in a series of nationalizations under Chavez, whose government also assumed control of telecommunications and electric companies, as well as majority stakes in oil fields previously managed by private companies.