MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

YPF divests its stake in gas distribution for 780 million dollars

YPF will transfer 70% of the capital of Metrogas, the country's largest gas distributor, and 5% of Metroenergía, its trading arm

Argentine oil company YPF, 51% state-controlled, has accepted Edenor's offer to buy its stake in Metrogas and Metroenergía for 780 million dollars, according to a filing submitted on Monday to the securities regulator. The deal takes the company out of the natural gas distribution business.

YPF will transfer 70% of the capital of Metrogas, the country's largest gas distributor, and 5% of Metroenergía, its trading arm. Metrogas supplies around 2.4 million customers in the city of Buenos Aires and eleven surrounding districts, more than a quarter of the national market. Edenor supplies electricity to 3.4 million customers in the northern part of the metropolitan area.

The buyer is controlled by the Edelcos consortium, made up of businessmen José Luis Manzano, Daniel Vila and Mauricio Filiberti. Manzano, a former interior minister under Carlos Menem, already held 9.23% of Metrogas through his investment vehicle. Once completed, the deal will place a single group in charge of the largest gas and electricity distributors in the metropolitan area, with close to 5.8 million customers combined.

The competitive process began in April with thirteen non-binding offers and narrowed to five finalists: besides Edenor, Central Puerto, MSU, Grupo Pierri and Litoral Gas took part. Citigroup advised the oil company. Edenor bid alongside British firm Andina PLC and will have to launch a tender offer for the remaining shares, held by the national social security administration, investors on the Buenos Aires stock exchange and Manzano's existing stake.

YPF said the sale forms part of a review of its asset portfolio and that proceeds will go to Vaca Muerta, the unconventional hydrocarbons field at the center of the strategy pursued by its chairman, Horacio Marín. Argentine law also bars vertical integration between gas production and distribution, an incompatibility the company had carried since taking control of Metrogas in 2012.

The timing coincides with improved results at the distributor. Between 2023 and 2025, Metrogas doubled its gross profit, quadrupled its operating result, cut its debt to a third and resumed dividend payments for the first time since 2001. The tariff adjustments introduced by Javier Milei's government and a five-year review setting an indexation formula shape the regulatory framework of the business.

Metrogas's licence, granted in 1992 for 35 years, expires in December 2027. The gas regulator has sent the executive a recommendation to extend it by two decades, to 2047, a decision not yet formalized. Completion of the transaction is conditional on authorizations from energy sector regulators.