Investors press Repsol to strike deal over YPF expropriation Repsol is under increasing pressure from two of its biggest shareholders to strike a deal with Argentina over last year's forced nationalisation of its YPF unit ahead of a board meeting due on Wednesday. Catalan savings bank La Caixa, the Spanish oil company's largest shareholder, and Pemex, the Mexican state oil group and number-three investor, are in private calling on Antonio Brufau, Repsol executive chairman, to strike a deal with YPF that would see it accept limited compensation for the expropriation, several people close to the discussions in Spain and Argentina said. La Caixa, which holds a 12.2 per cent stake, and Pemex, which holds 9.37 per cent, met Mr Brufau two weeks ago in Barcelona where they discussed a proposal - brokered by Pemex chief executive Emilio Lozoya - whereby Repsol would renounce its legal claim for $10.5bn of compensation against the government of Argentina in return for a heavily reduced stake in Vaca Muerta, Argentina's huge and highly promising shale formation. Under the terms of the deal seen by the Financial Times, Repsol would receive a 47 per cent stake in a new company that held rights to 6 per cent of Vaca Muerta, with YPF holding 51 per cent, and Pemex 2 per cent. YPF currently owns 40 per cent of Vaca Muerta, which Repsol is at pains to stress a Repsol-owned YPF discovered. The Argentine government, which expropriated 51 per cent of YPF last year and accused Repsol of failing to invest in the country, would also provide Repsol with a bond worth $1.5bn, but this would have to be reinvested in Argentina, along with a commitment to invest more to develop the asset. Pemex, meanwhile, has threatened to sell its entire 9.37 per cent stake in Repsol to press for a deal, having earlier this year changed the way it classifies the stake in its accounts. According to those close to the discussions, Mr Brufau remains completely opposed to the proposal, which is due to be formally presented to the Repsol board on Wednesday. Sacyr, the Spanish construction group that is Repsol's second-biggest shareholder with a 9.53 per cent stake, is also understood to be unwilling to side with Isidro Fainé, La Caixa's president, and Pemex. Repsol, La Caixa and Sacyr declined to comment. YPF has also not commented on the Pemex mediation, or that a planned deal that has been in the works for months has been reworked in a bid to strike an agreement ahead of September 7, when Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister, is expected in Buenos Aires for the formal selection of Madrid, Tokyo or Istanbul as the host of the 2020 Olympic Games. But the nationalised Argentine company has made clear that both it and Cristina Fernández, the country's president, want to settle with Repsol to repair Argentina's battered investment image and attract the billions of dollars needed to develop its shale prospects. Pemex also declined to comment. However, YPF's chief executive Miguel Galuccio knows his counterpart Mr Lozoya through his time in Mexico with oil services company Schlumberger and is keen to work more closely with the Mexican group. YPF believes the part of Vaca Muerta that it has started developing - where it is producing an average of 7,000 barrels of oil-equivalent per day and is poised to sign a joint-venture with Chevron, the US major, next month - has superior shale attributes compared with the fields that have revolutionised the energy outlook of the US. As a result, the company believes the Vaca Muerta acreage deserves high valuations that would amply satisfy any amount the Argentine government would be willing to pay Repsol.