Burford Capital requested a US decide to provide it management of Argentine state oil firm YPF SA as a part of its effort to gather on a $16 billion courtroom judgment towards the Latin American nation.
In a movement filed Monday in New York, Burford requested US District Decide Loretta Preska to grant it the 51 p.c stake in YPF presently held by Argentina’s federal and provincial governments. Preska can be the decide who in September issued the judgment that Burford is now attempting to gather.
Burford had sought to maintain its filings secret, saying that information of its assortment effort might impede efforts to resolve the difficulty. It could additionally appeal to consideration in Argentina “as a result of the movement calls into query the republic’s continued majority possession and management over YPF,” Burford stated in a courtroom submitting. Argentina opposed.
Preska declined to seal the filings. Neither Burford nor the Argentine authorities responded to emails in search of remark.
‘Lengthy Highway Forward’
Even when Preska orders that Argentina’s YPF shares be handed to Burford, it’s unclear how the litigation funding agency would implement that call. Argentina has prior to now fought international judgments, however these disputes have additionally harmed the nation’s means to lift abroad capital.
Burford is asking the decide to order Argentina to switch its class D shares in YPF via a custodial account at Financial institution of New York Mellon. Based on the submitting, the shares will not be lined by a US legislation that shields sure belongings of international governments, and Argentina has used them to again debt securities bought to US buyers.
However Burford acknowledged it has “a protracted street forward” to gather the total judgment, “given Argentina’s a few years of structuring its belongings to keep away from enforcement.” It stated a courtroom order requiring Argentina handy over the shares could possibly be the one technique to drive the nation to have interaction in negotiations over the judgment.
A 51 p.c stake in YPF is presently price about $4 billion, roughly 1 / 4 of the judgment.
2012 Seizure
The case during which Burford is in search of to gather stems from the Argentine authorities’s seizure of YPF in 2012. Preska discovered that re-nationalization violated YPF by-laws requiring the corporate to make a young supply to all shareholders.
Argentina is interesting the ruling however did not publish safety for the judgment in the course of the attraction. That led Preska to rule in January that the judgment — the most important ever ordered by the federal courtroom in Manhattan – was topic to instant assortment, earlier than the attraction is set.
Burford, which paid $16.6 million to amass the pursuits of two teams that held YPF shares on the time, stands to make some $6.2 billion if the total judgment is paid.
The case is Argentine Republic v. Petersen Energia Inversora SAU, 23-7370, 2nd US Circuit Courtroom of Appeals (Manhattan).