Chavez said the French company Casino Guichard Perrachon SA has offered to sell 80 percent of its shares in the corporation Cadena de Tiendas Venezolanas, or Cativen, during negotiations that began after he ordered the expropriation a hypermarket chain that Cativen operates in Venezuela.
The conglomerate's minority shareholders include the Colombian company Almacenes Exito and the Venezuelan company Empresas Polar.
Venezuela's government began negotiations with the French retailer last month, after Chavez ordered the expropriation of the Casino-owned Exito hypermarket chain, accusing its owners of raising prices inordinately following a monetary devaluation earlier this year.
Casino is the majority owner of Exito, which operates six hypermarkets in Venezuela.
“The expropriation turned into a friendly agreement,” Chavez said Saturday.
He suggested that Venezuela is holding further negotiations with Casino because the government would like to acquire total control of Cativen, which also owns the CADA supermarket chain that operates 35 stores, six distribution centers and close to 100 transportation trucks in Venezuela.
Chavez has ordered the expropriation of dozens of companies during his 11-year rule, expanding the state's role in the economy as he attempts to transform this South American nation into a socialist state.
Government opponents argue that Chavez - a self-proclaimed Marxist - is suffocating private enterprise and violating private property rights. The president rejects the allegations, countering that his government fully respects the rights of business owners.
Chavez also urged government officials on Saturday to force Empresas Polar - Venezuela's largest food producer - to move its warehouses in the city of Barquisimeto to another location, saying the property would better serve the local community.
“I want you to force that company out of there, let them go to the outskirts of the city,” he said.