May 23, 2009

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez capped his latest spate of nationalizations with a deal to buy the local unit of Spain's Banco Santander SA.Venezuela agreed to pay $1.05 billion for the unit, a deal that appeared to please Banco Santander investors.Some of Mr. Chávez's recent series of nationalizations in different sectors has been spurred in part by Venezuela's precarious economy, which has been hit generally by the global downturn and particularly by lower oil prices.

Oil revenue is about half what it was a year ago. Several recent oil-service company nationalizations unfolded after the companies stopped working because the government couldn't pay what it owed them.Almost every sector in Venezuela is now under the state's expanding embrace, including power, telecommunications, and agro-industrial companies. The government also seized rice mills and pasta factories from U.S. food giant Cargill Inc.