Activist investor Elliott Investment Management on Friday was named the presumptive winner in a U.S. court auction of shares in a parent of oil refiner Citgo Petroleum with a bid that puts an up to $7.

An Elliott Investment Management affiliate won an auction for Citgo Petroleum Corp.’s parent company with a bid for $7.3 billion, clearing a key hurdle in the fund’s push to acquire an oil refiner that was once Venezuela’s largest foreign asset.

Elliott and other U.S. investors have agreed to pay nearly $7.3 billion to acquire Citgo’s parent company, with proceeds set to help compensate creditors of the bankrupt Venezuelan government.

Activist investor Elliott Investment Management won the U.S. court auction for shares in Citgo Petroleum's parent company, PDV Holding, valuing it at $7.286 billion. The auction aims to repay claims against Venezuela and state oil firm PDVSA.

A conditional offer for shares in Citgo Petroleum's parent by financial firm Elliott Investment Management was accepted by a U.S. court officer overseeing an auction that could decide the future control of the Venezuela-owned oil refiner,