Argentina

A US appeals court has rejected a request from defaulted creditors led by Elliott Associates, a US fund, to require Argentina to post security of at least $250m by Monday to demonstrate its willingness to pay any judgment in their favour, the Financial Times reported. The ruling from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals means there will be no change to a schedule it laid down last week for the thorny case, which has pit the government against funds it decries as “vultures” and sparked fears of a new Argentine default.

Investors suing over Argentina's 2002 debt default have asked a U.S. court to order the country to post a security deposit of at least $250 million by December 10, while an appeal of a lower court's order is pending, The Chicago Tribune reported on a Reuters story. In an emergency motion filed late on Friday, the "holdout" creditors urged the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to modify its ruling from Wednesday that halted an order for Argentina to deposit $1.33 billion into an escrow account by December 15 on the investors' behalf.

Holders of Argentina’s restructured bonds asked for an emergency stay to block orders by U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa that prevent the country from paying interest on the debt next month without paying $1.3 billion to owners of defaulted notes, Bloomberg reported.

Yesterday, Argentina filed for a re-hearing of its arguments against hedge fund manager Paul Singer and other investors in its sovereign debt that neglected to restructure their debt in 2005 and 2010 (exchange bondholders), Business Insider reported. Argentina is making two arguments for why their case should be heard (before a panel of judges) again.

An unexpected New York court decision has raised the spectre of an Argentine government default, causing a rise in the cost of insuring against a payment failure and rattling the country’s bond market, the Financial Times reported. The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York late last week ruled that Argentina was legally barred from prioritising payments to bondholders that participated in debt exchanges in 2005 and 2010.

Spanish oil heavyweight Repsol YPF SA has lost nearly one-fifth of its valuation after Argentina's move to seize control of YPF SA sliced off a huge chunk of the company's production and earnings. Yet, two weeks after the Argentine bombshell, some investors and analysts are starting to devise a potential upside scenario for the battered Spanish company, The Wall Street Journal reported.

A YPF bond due in July next year is likely to default, and while Repsol YPF SA should escape a similar fate, this prospect could be yet another headache for the Spanish company after YPF's operations were seized by Argentina's government last week. Analysts expect that YPF's nationalization will almost certainly lead to a default on its bonds. Argentina's proposal to take over 51% of YPF would cut Repsol' stake to just 6% from 57% currently. Repsol, which denounced the takeover, has vowed to take the dispute to court.

Argentina’s billionaire Eskenazi family risks default on more than $2 billion of debt after the government seized control of oil company YPF SA and said dividends would probably be reinvested in the company, Bloomberg reported. The family’s Petersen Group, which has 25 percent of YPF, owes Spanish partner Repsol YPF SA 1.45 billion euros ($1.9 billion) after it bought a stake in YPF, the Madrid-based company said April 16. The Eskenazis counted on YPF dividend payments of as much as 90 percent of profit to repay Repsol and about $680 million of loans with banks including Citigroup Inc.

President Cristina Kirchner, in a move that marks a watershed in expanding the state's grip on the economy, said she will send a bill to Congress to nationalize Argentina's largest oil-and-gas company, YPF SA, The Wall Street Journal reported. The move fired up a battle with the company's Spanish controlling shareholder and the Madrid government. Under the proposal, which declares the petroleum industry of "national public interest," Argentina's federal and provincial governments would take 51% of the company, now majority owned by Repsol YPF SA of Spain.

Argentine supermarket chain Eki is in talks to sell about 25 of its large format stores to China's Yonghui Superstores Co., according to a person familiar with the matter, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported. "They already export wine and other [Argentine] products to China and are interested in expanding outside of China," said an Eki executive, who asked not to be named because of the confidential nature of the talks.