Colombia's corporate regulator has imposed the strictest level of oversight over distressed fertilizer producer Monómeros Colombo-Venezolanos, the Colombian subsidiary of Venezuelan state-owned Pequiven.
The move has alarmed Colombia's agricultural sector, because Monómeros supplies about 50pc of the domestic market.
The Barranquilla-based company came under the administrative control of Venezuela's political opposition in 2019, when Colombia's government joined the US in recognizing an interim Venezuelan government led by former National Assembly president Juan Guaidó in place of President Nicolas Maduro.
Since then, US sanctions designed to oust Maduro have made it difficult for Monómeros to access credit needed to pay for raw materials. The company has had five chief executives in two years. Some prominent opposition figures -- including Venezuela's former oil minister and Guaido's former Colombia envoy Humberto Calderon Berti -- have accused Guaidó of allowing the political parties that support him to infiltrate Monómeros with board appointments and commercial deals.
The Colombian regulator, known as Supersociedades, said the move, the most severe of oversight measures, is meant to force Monómeros management to adopt corrective action.
The company plans to appeal the decision which it said is based on outdated information.
In his latest salvo against opposition control over overseas assets, Maduro said last month that Monómeros should be dismantled and reinstalled in Venezuela. "Monómeros must return to its owners, to its parent company, so that all products come to Venezuela to contribute to the economic and comprehensive recovery of the country," he said.
Reaction inside Colombia was swift. If the company leaves Colombia, the cost of fertilizers could skyrocket by 50pc, according to Rodolfo Correa, agriculture secretary of Colombia's Antioquia department. Congressman César Lorduy wants the Colombian government to seize Monómeros altogether.
Another asset, another story
The Venezuelan opposition's main nominally controlled asset is Citgo, the US refining subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company PdV. Citgo is in the sights of numerous creditors seeking to recover Venezuelan debts. In contrast to Monómeros, Citgo has resisted cronyism and mismanagement because of professional staff and market oversight, a senior opposition figure told Argus.
Colombia's regulatory intervention of Monómeros is occurring just as representatives of the Maduro government and opposition parties are advancing in negotiations to end their protracted political conflict. The parties signed two partial accords late yesterday in Mexico, including one to review sanctions that impede access to funds to pay for food and medicine.
