Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has already made the country's telecommunication industry public property. Now he wants to control the food distribution in Venezuela. While the Chavez government agreed to pay Verizon for its stake in national telecom CANTV, France's Groupe Casino, which owns 65 stores in the South American country, may not be so lucky because Chavez says the state will take any private supermarkets or food distribution centers that do not follow the government's policy of price controls or is caught hoarding certain goods. It is not known whether Chavez will compensate the owners of these businesses or just confiscate them outright. The impact on multinationals may be minimal because government-owned Mercal is already the leading grocery retailer in Venezuela. Nonetheless, the nationalization moves, overall, will probably scare away future foreign investors. In addition, the latest move is likely to lower Venezuela's current ranking of 82 out of 102 countries by The World Economic Forum on how favorable investment is for institutions in the country. —Gerald Magpily
See AP article via Forbes
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