April 16, 2012  Bloomberg News 

Argentina to Seize Control of Producer YPF, Ousting Repsol

アルゼンチンのフェルナンデス大統領がスペインの石油会社レプソルＹＰＦ(スペインのレプソルがアルゼンチンの国有石油会社 YPF を買収した事によってできた、石油とガスの複合多国籍企業) 傘下のアルゼンチン企業ＹＰＦを政府の管理下に置くと明らかにしたことを受け、スペイン政府は数日中に「断固とした」措置を講じると表明した。

ソリア産業・エネルギー・観光相は16日夜にマドリードで記者会見し、「スペイン政府は対応策を協議しており、数日中に発表を予定している」とし、「明確で断固たる措置となる」と述べた。

フェルナンデス大統領は16日、ＹＰＦについてレプソルから経営権を奪い、管理下に置くことを明らかにした。石油生産の低迷や投資をめぐって、アルゼンチン政府とＹＰＦの間では意見の対立が生じていた。同大統領はセバスティアン・エスケナシ最高経営責任者（ＣＥＯ）の後任にデビド企画・公共投資相を起用。アルゼンチン政府はＹＰＦの株式51％を取得するための法案を議会に送付する計画だという。

レプソルはこうした動きについて「明らかに違法だ」とし、資産価値と株主利益を守るためにあらゆる法的措置を講じる方針を示した。

スペインの与党国民党のマリア・ドロレス・デ・コスペダル書記長は、今回のＹＰＦをめぐるアルゼンチン政府の動きに対し、他の欧州連合（ＥＵ）加盟国などもスペインの支持に回るだろうと語った。

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燃料輸入が昨年倍増し94億ドル（約7600億円）に達したのを受け、政府は２カ月前からＹＰＦに対し圧力をかけていた。同国はＹＰＦの配当の阻止を目指し、州当局が15の油田ライセンスを無効にした際も政府は州を支持していた。フェルナンデス大統領は2007年の就任以来、240億ドル規模の年金基金やアルゼンチン航空の国有化に動いた。

フェルナンデス大統領は大統領宮殿で、石油生産の落ち込みで同国が「発展できない国」にならないようＹＰＦの経営権を取り戻す必要があると述べ、支持者から喝采を受けた。

Repsol YPF

スペイン最大の石油会社であるレプソル（Repsol）が 1999 年、アルゼンチンの石油会社 YPF を買収し、社名をRepsol-YPFに変更した。
レプソルは 1987 年に主に下流事業を営む石油会社としてスペイン政府により設立された国営石油会社であったが、1989 年以降、順次株式が公開され 1997 年に 100 ％民間企業となった。
一方の YPF もアルゼンチンの国営会社として設立されたが、1999 年の民営化に伴う政府放出株式をレプソルが購入し、100 ％子会社化した。
それまでのレプソルは石油上流部門も手がけてはいたが、その設立の経緯から石油下流、およびガス事業が主体の企業であったが、南米に豊富な炭化水素資産を持つ YPF の取得により、石油メジャー企業の一角を占める国際石油企業となった。
2004 年末現在、レプソル ワイピーエフは南米、北米を中心に 28 カ国で事業を展開し、上流事業では 50 億バレル近い原油・ガス埋蔵量を保有し、また下流部門ではスペイン、アルゼンチン、ペルー等に製油所を保有し、事業を展開している。
　

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner seized control of YPF SA, the nation's largest crude producer, ousting Spanish owner Repsol YPF SA after a dispute over slumping oil output and investments.

Argentina took over management of YPF with immediate effect, replacing Chief Executive Officer Sebastian Eskenazi with Planning Minister Julio De Vido, Fernandez said yesterday in a speech in Buenos Aires. The government will also send a bill to Congress to take a 51 percent stake in YPF, she said.

The takeover follows more than two months of increasing government pressure on YPF after fuel imports doubled to $9.4 billion last year. The country sought to block YPF dividends and backed provincial governments when they revoked 15 oil field licenses. Fernandez also seized a $24 billion pension fund and airline Aerolineas Argentinas SA since taking office in 2007.

"They are going to be closing the country as an investment destination," Anish Kapadia, an analyst at Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. in London, said yesterday in a telephone interview from the city. "What's surprising is that they are expropriating assets rather than going through a fair market means to get hold of a stake in the company. That sets a terrible precedent."

Argentina, which defaulted on a record $95 billion of debt in 2001, needs to regain control of Buenos Aires-based YPF to avoid becoming "an unviable country," after oil production slumped, Fernandez said to the accompaniment of cheers from supporters at the presidential palace. Compensation for the seizure will be determined by the National Appraisal Tribunal, Fernandez said, without giving more details.

Shale-Oil Reserves

Argentina will manage YPF "professionally," Fernandez said, adding that the country is one of the few that doesn't control its own oil. Deputy Economy Minister Axel Kicillof will help De Vido to run the company, according to Fernandez.

The stake in YPF gives the government control of Argentina's shale oil reserves. YPF said in February that an independent survey showed the Vaca Muerta formation in southern Argentina holds at least 23 billion barrels of oil, of which at least 13 billion barrels belong to YPF.

Argentina is expropriating YPF for the "public good," a government official said in yesterday's speech.

'Hostile Decision'

YPF American depositary receipts tumbled 11 percent to $19.50 before being halted yesterday in New York. Earlier, they plunged as much as 21 percent to $17.41.

Yields on YPF's dollar bonds due in 2028 fell 16 basis points to 9.94 percent. The bond's prospectus says that a nationalization of the company is considered a default event in which bondholders may request expedited repayment.

The takeover was announced after Spain's markets closed yesterday. Repsol gained 0.06 percent to 17.48 euros in Madrid.

The decision is "a hostile decision against Repsol and therefore against Spain and the Spanish government and the government will act in consequence," Spanish Industry Minister Jose Manuel Soria told reporters yesterday in Madrid.

"The Spanish government is working on measures that will be announced in the coming days," he said. "They will be clear and decisive measures."

Retaliation by the European Union would risk Argentina exports to its single-biggest trading partner outside of Latin America. Argentina sold about $14.3 billion in goods to the EU last year, up 28 percent from 2010, the national statistics agency said. Spain was the biggest destination in the EU, accounting for 3 percent of Argentina's sales abroad.

Argentina's action "could prove harmful for long-term private investment," Fitch Ratings said in a statement.

Fernandez has also said she wants to resolve about $9 billion in defaulted debt with the Paris Club group of creditor nations. Negotiations with the group will be more complicated after the YPF decision, Claudio Loser, a former head of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the International Monetary Fund, said yesterday in a telephone interview from Miami.

Calls to YPF were referred to De Vido's spokesman.

YPF's output accounted for about 34 percent of the nation's production in 2011, according to energy secretariat data. The company is also the country's largest fuel retailer and refiner, with about 50 percent of refining capacity.

Energy demand grew over the past decade as Argentina recovered from a financial crisis. South America's second- largest economy expanded an average 7.8 percent since 2003, including 8.9 percent growth last year.

As economic growth spurred demand for fuel, oil output declined. Since 1999, the year Repsol acquired its controlling interest in YPF, production dropped 32 percent to 33.2 million cubic meters last year, according to data compiled by the Buenos Aires-based Argentine Oil and Gas Institute.

'International Isolation'

"This expropriation is madness and its only result will be international isolation," opposition lawmaker Julian Obliglio said in an e-mailed statement. "The President has broken a history of tradition, respect and solidarity that link us to Spain."

Argentina sold most of YPF, which had been owned by the state, to private investors in the early 1990s. The government retained a 0.2 percent stake and a so-called golden-share that entitles it to make certain decisions, including the veto of takeovers.

After acquiring control of YPF, Repsol sold a 15 percent to Argentina's Eskenazi family in 2008 and a further 10 percent last year. Until today's announcement, Repsol owned 57.4 percent of YPF.

Eskenazi Stake

The Eskenazis received two bank loans and two loans from Repsol to finance the acquisitions. The last installment of the first bank loan is due in May. They must start repaying the first Repsol loan next year.

Under the terms of the Eskenazi acquisitions, YPF paid dividends of 90 percent of net income in two semi-annual payments. The government representative on the board voted against the dividends twice in 2011 and again this year.

The government requested at a March 8 board meeting that, instead of paying dividends, the money should be invested in production and exploration.

As governor of the southern oil-producing province of Santa Cruz, Fernandez's late husband and predecessor Nestor Kirchner sought to acquire 5 percent of YPF's shares on the New York Stock Exchange in the 1990s in an attempt to gain a seat for the province on the board, Fernandez said in a March 1 speech to Congress.

Kirchner had to stop buying the shares once Repsol took over YPF, she said.

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February 27, 2014　Fox News Latino

Argentina, Repsol sign accord on YPF 2 years after expropriation

The Argentine government and Spanish oil company Repsol on Thursday signed a $5 billion accord putting an end to the bitter dispute that erupted after President Cristina Fernandez expropriated 51 percent of Repsol's stake in energy company YPF in May 2012.

The agreement establishes compensation for the Spanish oil firm of $5 billion in dollar-denominated government bonds, a debt that will be settled by 2033, at the latest, if the bonds are held to maturity.

The accord was signed in Buenos Aires by Argentine Economy Minister Axel Kicillof, the general secretary and administrative counsel of Repsol, Luis Suarez de Lezo Mantilla, and the Spanish firm's business director, Nemesio Fernandez Cuesta Luca De Tena.

With this accord, "Repsol accepts ... the sum of $5 billion ... paid in sovereign bonds as compensation for the expropriation" in May 2012, the Argentine Economy Ministry said in a communique.

Simultaneously on Thursday, Repsol and YPF signed another agreement in the Argentine capital agreeing to "the waiver of legal action, as well as a series of ... mutual indemnities," according to a communique issued by the Spanish oil company, which holds a 12 percent participation in Argentina's largest hydrocarbon production firm.

YPF said that this "significant step" will allow it "to focus all its effort and professionalism on the development of (Argentina's) energy resources."

The agreement means that Argentina will issue $6 billion in public debt, including $5 billion in bonds that will be turned over to Repsol and another $1 billion in securities to cover the amount agreed to as an indemnity in case the bonds decline in value below their initial level.

Repsol, however, will not be able to receive more than $5 billion, whether through the sale of the bonds in the market at more than their initial value or by holding them until they mature.

Both sides agree to terminate any pending judicial or arbitration processes and to waive future claims, according to a press release issued earlier in the week by the firm.

The YPF expropriation sparked diplomatic tensions between Spain and Argentina, and Repsol had vowed that it would seek at least $10.5 billion in compensation for its former unit.

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Under the agreement, Repsol will receive a package of three dollar-denominated Argentine sovereign bonds with a nominal value of $5 billion. It will also receive additional bonds for a maximum face value of up to $1 billion to compensate for the market discount on the first group of bonds.

Argentine sovereign bonds mostly trade at a steep discount since the country defaulted on international debt in 2002.

The total market value of the combined packages will be at least $4.67 billion, which could be supplemented by $500 million in back interest payments on one of the bonds, known as the Discount 33.

Repsol can sell the bonds whenever it wants though the final amount it receives for the bonds cannot exceed $5 billion after expenses and interest.