Argentina tries to postpone compensation guarantee in YPF case in the US.

Argentina tried to postpone this Monday the presentation of a guarantee to avoid embargoes in the compensation of more than US$ 16,000 million to which it was sentenced last year in a United States court for the expropriation in 2012 of the oil company YPF to Repsol.

In September 2023, Judge Loretta Preska of New York ruled in favor of the vulture fund Burford Capital in its more than eight-year litigation against the Argentine State for the expropriation of YPF, and forced Buenos Aires to pay the largest amount possible. US$16,000 million.

Preska agreed in November to delay the execution of the compensation sentence so that Argentina can appeal the ruling, and set as a condition that the State deposit a guarantee, a commitment whose deadline expires this January 10 and which, if not fulfilled, will give way to embargoes. of Argentine assets.

The State’s attorneys tried unsuccessfully to request an extension of the security deposit at the end of December, and today they offered arguments in a new motion in which they anticipate that Argentina will not fulfill its obligation on time.

The attorneys argued before Judge Preska that Burford Capital “has not identified any assets of the Republic (Argentina) in the United States” that can be seized in the face of the potential default on January 10, and claims that the fund should “renew your motion” with a new application date based on the discovery of those assets.

Burford’s defense already indicated in another letter to Preska on January 2 that “despite the optimistic welcoming statements of the new president of Argentina (Javier Milei), Argentina’s lawyers have made it clear that the Republic will not cooperate even in basic things.” in the YPF case.

According to them, Argentina has recognized its “legal and practical inability to pledge the required assets” in the warranty, and “He has made it clear that he will not comply with the court’s conditions for granting him a stay (of the sentence) while he makes an appeal.”

Burford’s lawyers also referenced the potential “arduous and exhausting process” to collect compensation by seizing Argentine assets if the State did not deposit its guarantee on time.

Argentina has until January 30 to appeal the ruling, according to Preska.

In 2012, Argentina bought 51% of the shares of YPF to the Spanish Repsol without making a public takeover offer (OPA) to the rest of the shareholders, who claimed to have been harmed.

The trial for the nationalization of YPF began in 2015 after the bankruptcy of the Petersen Group, which was an investor in the oil company.

Burford Capital, a fund specialized in this type of litigation, bought the bankruptcies of Petersen Energía Inversora and Petersen Energía in Spain, two companies created by the owners of that holding company, in order to file the lawsuit in New York.