Ternium Further Updates Market on Sidor Nationalization Process

Ternium S.A. (NYSE: TX) announced that Decree Law 6058 regulating the steel production activity in the Guayana, Venezuela region (the 'Decree') became effective today upon its publication on Venezuela's Official Gazette. The Decree represents a further step towards the nationalization of Ternium's majority owned subsidiary Sidor.
The Decree orders that Sidor and its subsidiaries and affiliated companies be transformed into state-owned enterprises ('empresas del estado'), with the government owning not less than 60% of their share capital.
The Decree provides for the creation of two committees. A transition committee shall be created to join Sidor's board of directors and to ensure that control over the current operations of Sidor and its subsidiaries and affiliated companies is transferred to the government on or prior to June 30, 2008. A separate committee, composed of representatives of the government and the private shareholders of Sidor and its subsidiaries and affiliated companies, shall be formed to negotiate over a 60-day period a fair price for the shares to be transferred to the State, together with the terms and conditions of the possible participation of such private shareholders in the share capital of the state-owned enterprises.