VENEZUELA INVESTORS Multinational companies are increasingly looking to sell their Venezuelan operations to local players as the government struggles with its economy and debt load. By Robert Shaw Walking away 24 L ATINFINA NCE.COM - November/December 2016 Source: Reuters I t is a question Venezuelan bondholders and multinational companies in Venezuela have repeatedly asked themselves: How much longer can the country stave off a possible debt default and further economic calamity? An offer to swap bonds issued by the state-owned oil company PDVSA is the latest attempt by the Venezuelan government to gain some breathing room as it confronts a deepening economic crisis, low oil prices and billions of dollars of debt payments over the next year. The proposal to swap $5.3 billion of bonds maturing in April and November 2017 for securities due in 2020 was met with investor skepticism. PDVSA was forced to sweeten the deal and extend the deadline twice, hoping to persuade more creditors to sign on. The juggling act served as a stark reminder of how the government is increasingly forced to scrounge money wherever it can to honor its debts. LEAVING: International firms are selling their Venezuelan operations as the sovereign grapples with its finances "For PDVSA and the sovereign, the risk is the same," says Siobhan Morden, the head of Latin American fixed-income strategy at Nomura Holdings. "They both need cash. There is simply no new credit being offered to a country that is deferring, renegotiating and restructuring payments and running a huge cash-flow deficit on its balance of payments." Heavy borrowing and the drop in global oil prices have left the Venezuelan economy reeling.http://www.LATINFINANCE.COM