Venezuela's Chavez sets fast nationalization pace

CARACAS, Feb 13 (Reuters) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is setting a fast pace in a nationalization drive to help create a socialist state, striking three takeover deals that force out US firms in just over a month .

Chavez, an anti-US former soldier and Cuba ally, is boosting state involvement in the economy of the No. 4 oil exporter to the United States as he consolidates power following a landslide re-election last year.

Authorities today said they would buy the assets of US power company CMS for 106 million dollar, a day after cutting a similar deal with telecom giant Verizon for 572 million dollar.

Last week the government signed an accord to buy the holdings of US-based global power generation firm AES Corp.

in a local power company for 750 million dollar.

The pacts came two weeks after Chavez received special powers to rule by decree and five weeks after he vowed to nationalize the telecommunications and electricity sectors in a shock announcement that wiped out a fifth of the Caracas stock exchange's value.

The companies were not given the choice to hold on to their investments, but they and economists said the buyout terms were tough but fair, especially given Venezuela's deteriorating investment climate.

Chavez, who has kept an unusual week-long silence in contrast to his usual ubiquitous state media presence, has delegated much of the negotiations to a cabinet he revamped last month.

ACCELERATED EFFORT New Vice President Jorge Rodriguez cited the state's purchase of Verizon's 29 percent stake in Venezuelan phone company CANTV as a sign of the ''fast and transparent'' way the government was following Chavez's orders.

''The recovery of CANTV ... forms part of the (efforts) the government has carried out in an accelerated manner to regain its position in strategic companies,'' he said.

The iconoclast Chavez is in the vanguard of Latin America's resurgent left, which that has also swept Bolivia and Ecuador with promises to roll back 1990s' free-market reforms that first brought companies like AES and Verizon to Venezuela.

Chavez quickly implemented the nationalizations by avoiding protracted legal battles and outright seizures, and, instead, striking buyout deals.

The effort follows Venezuela's campaign over the previous two years to wrest control of its fields from oil giants like Chevron and boost taxes on their operations.

But Chavez may face a tougher fight to take control by May 1 of four heavy crude oil upgrading projects that turn tar-like crude into light oil operating in the Orinoco basin worth 30 billion dollar that include investment from some of the world's largest oil companies.

Rex Tillerson, chief of Texas-based energy behemoth Exxon Mobil , on Tuesday expressed doubt the Orinoco projects could meet Chavez' ambitious deadline, especially since the government has not provided details on the planned takeovers.

''We are waiting on the government representatives to sit down with us and give us some of the details of what exactly is it their objectives are, how you migrate and offer compensation.'' Reuters AD VP0342