New York, April 17, 2012 -- Moody's Investors Service downgraded YPF Sociedad Anónima (YPF)
reflecting the Argentine government's expected partial nationalization
of YPF. Moody's downgraded YPF's Global Local Currency
Rating to B3 from Ba3 and National Scale Rating to Baa3.ar from
Aa2.ar. All ratings remain on review for downgrade.
RATINGS RATIONALE
The rating actions reflect the expected approval of legislation that will
enable the government of Argentina (B3 stable) and certain hydrocarbon
producing Argentine provinces to take a 51% stake in YPF by declaring
51% of YPF's Class D shares of public interest and subject
to expropriation. This 51% stake will be 51% owned
by the federal government and 49% owned by various provinces.
The government also announced that the company would come under immediate
state supervision and control for a 30-day period, and declared
hydrocarbon self sufficiency to be in the county's national interest.
Approval of the legislation will result in the Argentine government and
the provinces taking control of roughly 201 million Class D shares currently
owned by Repsol YPF S.A. (Repsol, Baa2 stable),
which would reduce Repsol's stake in YPF to 6% from 57%.
The terms of compensation offered to existing shareholders has not been
resolved and is expected to be determined by a federal tribunal.
Given YPF's expected impending partial nationalization by the B3
rated Argentine government, as opposed to Repsol YPF S.A.'s
prior majority control, Moody's believes that YPF should not
be rated higher than the government and has equalized the ratings.
The ratings review reflects uncertainty regarding how the government will
manage YPF, including uncertainty regarding the company's
future operating and financial profile. As a result of the ownership
transfer, a change-of-control could be deemed an event
of default under certain YPF debt agreements, giving rise to acceleration
rights, barring a waiver from the lenders. Resolution of
the review will be subject to whether an event of default is declared
and how quickly it can be cured, as well as any clarifications on
the intentions of the government regarding the management of YPF.
The principal methodology used in rating YPF was the Global Integrated
Oil & Gas Industry Methodology published in November 2009.
Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com for
a copy of this methodology.
Moody's National Scale Ratings (NSRs) are intended as relative measures
of creditworthiness among debt issues and issuers within a country,
enabling market participants to better differentiate relative risks.
NSRs differ from Moody's global scale ratings in that they are not globally
comparable with the full universe of Moody's rated entities, but
only with NSRs for other rated debt issues and issuers within the same
country. NSRs are designated by a ".nn" country modifier
signifying the relevant country, as in ".ar" for Argentina.
For further information on Moody's approach to national scale ratings,
please refer to Moody's Rating Methodology published in March 2011 entitled
"Mapping Moody's National Scale Ratings to Global Scale Ratings."
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London E 14 5FA, UK, in accordance with Art.4 paragraph
3 of the Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 on Credit Rating Agencies.
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Gretchen French
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
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Steven Wood
MD - Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Releasing Office:
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Moody's downgrades YPF, ratings remain on review