Petersen Group Draws in Lenders for YPF Buy

Argentine private equity firm The Petersen Group is slowly but surely drawing participants into the $1.02bn syndicated loan it is raising to acquire 14.9% of YPF. The loan is being led by Credit Suisse, BNP, Goldman Sachs and Itau, and has garnered MLA participation from ABN AMRO and Natixis. At least two more banks, and some large institutional investors are expected to come into the group, says a banker close to the process. The 3-year average life loan was priced in December using a model that included three components: Libor, 3-year Argentine CDS and a 200bp spread. The cost of the loan was fixed at Libor plus 565bp, says the banker. In addition to the syndicated loan, the Petersen Group, also referred to by market participants as “the Lowlands Group,” received a seller’s note of equivalent size from Repsol. Petersen Group is run by Argentine banker Enrique Eskenazi and his sons. The family owns, among other assets, Banco de Santa Cruz. YPF is the Argentine subsidiary of Spain’s Repsol and the country’s biggest oil company.