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Spain's Repsol Says Several Cos Want Stake in Argentine Unit YPF

Fonte: EFE News Services

Date: 03/07/2009 10:03

Spanish oil company Repsol said Thursday that it has received offers "of a different nature and from different companies" interested in acquiring a stake in its Argentine unit YPF.

In a regulatory filing, Repsol said none of the offers are binding and recalled that for months it has considered incorporating new shareholders into the subsidiary.

"We've received a ton of proposals, ideas and suggestions from companies from China, India and Russia, but we haven't had a firm offer nor made any decision about the sale of YPF," a source at the company told Efe.

Repsol said in the filing that any decision affecting YPF will safeguard the interests of its current shareholders and be made after previous consultation with Argentine authorities, whose Class A shares give them veto power over such a transaction.

The originally state-owned YPF was acquired by Repsol during Argentina's wave of privatizations in the 1990s.

Repsol's initial plan was to float 25 percent of YPF's shares on the Argentine stock exchange, but it delayed that decision amid the onset of the global financial crisis.

The Spanish company is still mulling a partial listing of the company on the Buenos Aires stock market, while it is also open to "exploring alternatives for including new partners."

On June 23, Repsol CEO Antonio Brufau denied press accounts that he was under pressure from the Argentine government to sell part of YPF to investors in the South American country.

"We're not negotiating with any Argentine group. The government has never tried to exert influence on matters we regard as strictly private," the company's president said, adding that the option of listing YPF on the Argentine stock exchange "remains valid," although the right time for such a move must be found.

Repsol owns almost 85 percent of YPF, after Argentine group Petersen, controlled by the Eskenazi family, acquired a 15.46 percent stake and obtained an option to acquire another 10 percent of YPF, which it has not exercised.

A Hong Kong daily reported Thursday that the China National Petroleum Corporation and the China National Offshore Oil Company planned to make formal bids for YPF.

The South China Morning Post cited unnamed sources at the respective state-owned enterprises.

When contacted by Efe, CNPC did not confirm the information and CNOOC said that "if any acquisition offer exists, a public announcement will be made."