(Bloomberg) — The privatization of state-run oil company YPF SA is no longer included in sweeping reforms that President Javier Milei is trying to get approved by Argentina’s congress, according to a summary of the legislation circulated by the government Monday.
Most Read from Bloomberg
The so-called omnibus bill, currently up for debate in the lower house, was changed after negotiations with lawmakers. It’s the clearest sign yet that libertarian hard-liner Milei, whose party has only a minority in congress, is willing to make concessions in order to push through a radical reform package that would shred the fabric of Argentina’s interventionist economy to build a free-market haven.
YPF is Argentina’s biggest oil driller and refiner. It was nationalized in 2012 to spearhead development of shale riches in Patagonia after Spanish owners were accused of neglecting production. And while YPF has found some success there — shale oil now makes up nearly half of the country’s crude output of 760,000 barrels a day — it has been hobbled by government meddling in fuel prices to contain runaway inflation.
Its New York-listed shares have fallen almost 30% since the nationalization. But some investors had recently been buying up YPF securities in the hope Milei would see through a re-privatization that could, in theory, make the company more efficient and profitable.
Paula La Greca, an analyst at TPCG in Buenos Aires, said privatization was always unlikely to happen. That’s because by keeping YPF under state control the government has a guaranteed tool for improving Argentina’s energy trade balance, which in turn helps budget and monetary goals.
“YPF was conceived as a company to ensure energy independence was a part of national security,” La Greca said.
YPF’s American depositary receipts were up by about 1% at midday in New York after falling sharply before the start of regular trading.
To be sure, Milei — who’d originally said he wanted to get YPF in good order before pursuing a sale midway through his term — could still revive the plans. However, it would be a challenge to secure the required two-thirds approval in congress.
Complicating matters is a US court ruling ordering Argentina to pay some $16 billion after it botched technical steps during the 2012 nationalization. Since the government failed earlier this month to pledge equity in YPF as a guarantee to investors during an ongoing appeals process, a Manhattan judge has given those investors the green light to collect the judgment by going after Argentina’s assets.
Milei will still seek to privatize tens of other state companies as he moves to shrink a bloated government. But the revised version of the omnibus legislation also pares back plans for the state-run nuclear operator, a satellite company and Banco Nacion.
The president also made concessions on how pensions should be calculated. Resistance to his reforms out of congress includes a general strike planned this week by powerful trade unions.
(Updates with context throughout. A previous version of this story corrected headline and first paragraph to say stocks fell, not bonds.)
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.