Venezuela uses distressed bonds to settle debts with drugmakers

By Brian Ellsworth, Ben Hirschler and Tim McLaughlin CARACAS/LONDON/BOSTON (Reuters) - Venezuela has settled debts with at least three global drug companies by giving them bonds that trade at a heavy discount, a further sign of the OPEC nation's worsening financial crisis. Novartis AG , Bayer AG and Sanofi SA acquired dollar-denominated bonds from state-owned oil company PDVSA that they resold for as little as a third of their face value, according to a Reuters analysis of regulatory filings and