Court-Ordered Sale of Venezuela’s Citgo Narrowed to 12 Bidders

Twelve first-round bids were made in a court-ordered auction of Citgo Petroleum’s Venezuelan parent, to pay claims brought by creditors of the South American nation.

The bidders for the refiner’s parent company, PDV Holding, were chosen from an initial list of 30, according to Robert Pincus the special master appointed by a US district court to lead the sale process, who spoke in a hearing on Tuesday.

The auction seeks to satisfy more than $20 billion in creditor claims against the Venezuelan government and state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, which owns PDV.

The bidders include some ...