News that Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez plans to nationalize the South American country's largest telecom CANTV and largest utility Electricidad de Caracas is bad news for corporate shareholders Verizon Communications Inc. and AES Corp. However, the news is particularly troubling for Verizon, which has an agreement to sell its 28.5% stake in CANTV, which also trades on the New York Stock Exchange, to Carlos Slim's mobile-phone provider America Movil for $3.7 billion. Chavez has provided no indication that the government will pay either company, but the government has compensated H.J. Heinz for the nationalization of a tomato-processing plant, according to a New York Times story. Nonetheless, Verizon may not receive the same $3.7 billion that Slim offered. Neither company would comment to media outlets.—Matthew Wurtzel
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