Luxembourg-based Tenaris, a tube and pipe manufacturer for the energy products market and a unit of Argentine-Italian conglomerate Techint, announced Wednesday August 24 it will ask a tribunal at the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) to help it obtain fair compensation for Venezuela's 2009 expropriation of its subsidiary, Matesi Materiales Siderurgicos SA.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, in 2009 Venezuela's government took operational control of Matesi, a hot-briquetted iron unit that was majority-owned by Tenaris, and pledged to compensate Tenaris appropriately; however, the company immediately reported lack of progress in the discussions on the amount of compensation.
Venezuela also took over Tenaris' majority stake in Tubos de Acero de Venezuela SA (Tavsa), a seamless steel tube maker, and its minority stake in Complejo Siderurgico de Guayana (Comsigua), another hot-briquetted iron producer. Moreover, Tenaris lost its main Venezuelan steel mill, Sidor, to Venezualan president Chavez's nationalization program in 2008. Venezuela's government initially said it would pay a total of $1.97 billion in compensation for the three units, but missed the deadline for the final installment.
"Tenaris, however, continues to be prepared and willing to engage in discussions with the Venezuelan government to reach a solution that recognizes their rights under Venezuelan and international law," the Tenaris statement said.