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.

The $7.3 billion offer from Elliott Investment Management falls significantly short of the Venezuelan refiner’s valuation.

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.

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,