CARACAS/BRIDGETOWN (Reuters) – A Barbados-based holding company led by executives of Venezuelan food and beermaker Empresas Polar has filed an international arbitration claim against President Hugo Chavez’s government over its nationalization of a fertilizer project, documents show.

The move may set a precedent for Venezuelan companies seeking access to international courts to settle disputes with the socialist government that otherwise would be litigated by local judges, who critics say are controlled by Chavez.

The case is highly delicate as Chavez has repeatedly threatened to nationalize Polar, the South American nation’s largest private employer. Its products range from beer to corn flour and reach nearly all of Venezuela’s 29 million people.
Arbitration claims by Venezuelan companies could become more frequent if Chavez begins a more widescale expropriation of local businesses after five years of taking over assets of many of Venezuela’s top foreign firms.

The World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, or ICSID, says the Barbados-based “Gambrinus, Corp” registered a claim against Venezuela on Dec 2 in relation to a “fertilizer enterprise.” ICSID declined to provide further details. But a source close to the case, who asked not to be identified, confirmed the dispute was over fertilizer-maker Fertinitro, which Chavez nationalized in 2010. Polar had a 10 per cent stake in it. Others partners included state petrochemicals company Pequiven, an indirect subsidiary of Italian oil company ENI and US-based Koch Industries, which in July filed for ICSID arbitration over its 35 per cent stake in Fertinitro.