MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

YPF sells medium term debt in Pesos equivalent to 423 million dollars

The nationalized corporation has plans to invest 32.7bn dollars in the next four years

Argentina's state-controlled energy company YPF sold medium-term local currency debt equivalent to a total of 423.2 million dollars on Wednesday, a stock market filing showed.

The company, which was nationalized earlier this year, said it sold 293.4 million worth of 48-month bonds at a fixed rate of 6.25% and 129.8 million worth of 24-month bonds at a rate of 5.0%.

The bonds will be payable in Pesos but linked to the dollar's evolution on the official foreign exchange market to protect against depreciation risk.

The company which was seized from Spain’s Repsol last May said that the issue was “very successful” and follows on a previous one from September, also with ‘excellent results’ which is another sign of confidence in the current investment development plan of the company that anticipates investments of 37.2bn dollars in the 2013/17 period.

“It is the largest corporate sale in the local market and is part of the funding for the ambitious plan to recover Argentina’s self sufficiency in energy”, added the release. The operation was far beyond the company’s expectations since “the issue was over subscribed”.

YPF in the first half of the year reported earnings of 2.127bn Pesos (approx 460m dollars), 10.1% less than in the first half of last year; however profits in the second quarter of 2012 totalled the equivalent of 180 million dollars, or 8% higher than in the same period a year ago.

YPF was nationalized last May when the Argentine congress voted the seizure of a 51% stake of the company from Spain’s Repsol, which nevertheless retains a 12% interest.