Banks poised to seize YPF stake A group of international banks is poised to take over shares in newly nationalised Argentine oil company YPF after a minority shareholder defaulted on a loan this week. The banks - Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas and Itaú - wrote to the company on May 11 notifying it of the "default event" triggered by the nationalisation of YPF, Argentina's biggest company, earlier this month. Under the terms of the loan, the default was triggered by Repsol losing control of the company and the subsequent fall in YPF's share price, according to a source close to the company. The stock has slid more than 60 per cent this year. In addition, Petersen Energía, a unit of the Petersen Group owned by the Eskenazi family, missed a $400m payment on May 16, which would have settled the first of two bank loans it took on to part-fund the acquisition of 25.46 per cent of YPF shares in purchases in 2008 and 2011. In all, the Eskenazis borrowed $3.4bn via two bank loans - the second loan also included Citibank and Standard Bank - and two vendor loans from Repsol itself. The banks" collateral for their two loans amounts to some 22 per cent of YPF's shares and Repsol's collateral for its two vendor loans is 3 per cent. Though the banks had not yet claimed the shares pledged as collateral, "sooner or later they will," the source said. There was no immediate comment from the banks. On the same day as Petersen Enería missed its payment, Argentina notified the US Securities and Exchange Commission in a 20-F filing that YPF faced a default risk of its own and was seeking waivers from its creditors since the nationalisation could constitute a default on $1.6bn of debt. In case those waivers are not obtained and immediate repayment is required, the company could face short-term liquidity problems. However, management expects that in such case it could obtain financing from several sources, including the company's operating cash flows and available credit lines," it said. Buenos Aires also noted that YPF had not had an audit committee that satisfies US rules since April 16 when YPF was placed under government intervention pending full nationalisation. That could trigger a delisting of YPF's American depositary shares in New York, though YPF later stressed that a new committee would be named after a shareholders" meeting on June 4 which would appoint the new board. Repsol this week began legal action against Argentina with a case it intends to take to the World Bank's arbitration tribunal, ICSID, and a class-action suit in the US. It is seeking $10.5bn in compensation, a sum Argentina has dismissed out of hand. Such continued uncertainty surrounding the company made it unwise to pay the May 16 debt tranche, the Petersen source said. "There wasn't much point hurrying to pay off the debt until things were clearer," the source said. It's not very advisable to put $400m into a hole. Cristina Fernández, the Argentine president, accused Repsol-controlled YPF of paying excessive dividends, under-investment and underproduction which she said forced Argentina to spent $9.4bn on fuel imports last year. Spain's Repsol this month wrote to companies with which it had been in contact about developing YPF assets warning that it would sue if they try to invest in YPF or its assets.