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Argentine President Cristina Fernandez is shown in this file photo. Fernandez on Thursday thanked Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy for the "active role" his administration played in an agreement reached this week to compensate Repsol for the nationalization of its YPF unit, government sources said. EFE/File
Buenos Aires, Nov 28 (EFE).- Argentine President Cristina Fernandez on Thursday thanked Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy for the "active role" his administration played in an agreement reached this week to compensate Repsol for the nationalization of its YPF unit, government sources said.
The two heads of government had a phone conversation in which Fernandez thanked Rajoy for the participation of Spanish Industry, Energy and Tourism Minister Jose Manuel Soria in the negotiations.
Spanish government sources in Madrid, meanwhile, confirmed to Efe Thursday that the two leaders spoke on the phone, although they did not provide details of their conversation.
The Argentine government and Spain's Repsol reached a tentative deal Monday on compensation for the Spanish oil major's controlling stake in Argentina's YPF, which Buenos Aires nationalized last year.
Details of the accord, approved Wednesday by Repsol's board, have not yet been disclosed, but sources close to the negotiations say the Argentine government has offered compensation totaling $5 billion in dollar-denominated government bonds.
That amount is less than half the $10.5 billion the Spanish company has been demanding.
In exchange, the sources say, the Spanish company would drop all of its expropriation-related lawsuits.
Repsol said in a statement this week that, given the complexity of the matter, its board voted to retain an internationally respected investment bank "to facilitate a professional management of the process."
Besides Argentine Cabinet chief Jorge Capitanich and Soria, other participants in the talks included YPF CEO Miguel Galuccio; three Repsol senior executives; a representative of Repsol chief shareholder CaixaBank; Argentine Economy Minister Axel Kicillof and the head of Mexican state oil company Pemex, which has a 9.3 percent stake in the Spanish firm.
Buenos Aires seized control of YPF in May 2012, expropriating the bulk of Repsol's stake while leaving the Spanish company with around 12 percent of the shares.
Fernandez's administration accused the Spanish company of using YPF as a cash cow to fund its international expansion.
The World Bank's International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes agreed last December to hear Repsol's complaint against the expropriation.
The Spanish company also has taken legal action against the nationalization in courts in Argentina, Spain and the United States.