By Nathalie Tadena Exterran Holdings Inc. (EXH) said its Venezuelan unit has sold assets nationalized in 2009 to Venezuela's state oil company for about $442 million, which it plans to use to repay debt and for general corporate purposes. Shares surged 13% to $17.59 in recent trading. The stock has climbed 40% over the past three months. Exterran was among the foreign companies affected in 2009 by a nationalization drive in Venezuela that targeted dozens of oil-services companies. Exterran, which is involved in natural-gas compression and is a provider of oil-and-gas equipment, received an initial payment of about $177 million in cash in connection with the sale to Venezuela's state oil company, commonly known as PDVSA, and will receive about $265 million in periodic cash payments through the third quarter of 2016. The company also agreed to suspend the arbitration proceeding filed by its Spanish subsidiary against Venezuela, pending full payment by PDVSA of the purchase price for the nationalized assets. Its joint ventures have also agreed to drop arbitration against Venezuela. In March, Exterran said it would receive roughly $112 million in connection with the sale of its joint venture assets in Venezuela to PDVSA while its joint venture partner natural gas distributor Williams Cos. (WMB) said it would receive roughly $312 million in cash through 2016. Write to Nathalie Tadena at nathalie.tadena@dowjones.com Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
