MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Banks will wait for YPF to name new board of directors before taking action

The Eskenazi family through the Petersen group holds a 25.5% stake in YPF

The banks that helped Argentina's Petersen Group buy a stake in energy company YPF will give the group extra time to make a loan payment due this month, according to sources involved in the negotiations.

President Cristina Fernandez's move to expropriate a 51% controlling stake in the energy company from Spanish oil major Repsol prompted speculation about the future of the Petersen Group in a state-run YPF.

Petersen, which is owned by Argentina's Eskenazi family, relies on dividends from YPF to service the roughly 3 billion dollars debt with a group of banks and Repsol. YPF new state management has ruled out redistributing company profits.

Petersen was due to make a 400 million dollars payment at the end of the month to the banks, which include Credit Suisse, Citi, Itau and BNP Paribas , but they have agreed to wait to assess the company's performance following a June 4 YPF shareholder meeting.

“They will not enforce this debt and have agreed to extend the due date,” a source linked to the talks between the Eskenazi family and the banks revealed.

Repsol lent the Eskenazi family 1.54 billion Euros to buy part of its holdings in YPF, backed by YPF shares. The rest was loaned by the syndicate of banks, which have priority over Repsol's vendor loan. The Petersen Group holds a 25.5% stake in YPF.

Cristina Fernandez, who says the YPF takeover was necessary because of Repsol's underinvestment, named a former executive at global oilfield services giant Schlumberger Ltd to run YPF last week - signalling her commitment to a professional management team.