Gold Reserve Says US Unit Final Recommended Bidder With $7.382 Bln Bid For CITGO Petroleum

(RTTNews) - Gold Reserve Ltd. (GDRZF) announced Thursday that its U.S. acquisition subsidiary, Dalinar Energy Corp., is the Final Recommended Bidder with $7.382 billion bid recommendation for the purchase of stake in PDV Holding, Inc., the indirect parent of CITGO Petroleum Corp.

The selection of the U.S.-based Dalinar was announced in the Notice of Final Recommendation filed by the Special Master appointed by the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, which is overseeing the sale process.

Dalinar's bid is supported by a consortium that includes judgment creditors Rusoro Mining Ltd., Koch Minerals Sarl and Koch Nitrogen International Sarl, and Siemens Energy, Inc.

The company noted that the final bid's stated net purchase price is $7.382 billion, significantly higher than the $3.7 billion stalking horse bid submitted by Red Tree Investments earlier this year.

The Dalinar bid includes a combination of equity and debt financing. A consortium of lenders, led by J.P. Morgan and TD Bank and including Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., have provided commitments for the full amount of the anticipated debt financing.

Gold Reserve added that Dalinar's purchase of the PDVH shares is subject to closing conditions and regulatory approvals, including but not limited to approval by the U.S. Department of Treasury' s Office of Foreign Assets Control or OFAC.

The Delaware Court is scheduled to hold a Sale Hearing on August 18, 2025.

At closing, Gold Reserve will own around 44% of Dalinar's common equity, representing 85% of the voting shares. In addition, Gold Reserve will hold at least $150 million of $1.5 billion of preferred equity securities in Dalinar or one of its subsidiaries.

Paul Rivett, Gold Reserve's Executive Vice Chairman, said, "Our bid satisfies creditors further down the waterfall than was ever contemplated by any prior bid since the inception of the Delaware sale process. ... We look forward to the Court's decision in August and getting closer to finally closing this chapter in Gold Reserve's long history."