S&P: YPF on watch

Standard & Poor's said it placed its BB+ local-currency corporate credit rating on YPF SA on CreditWatch with negative implications.

The agency said that the outlook on the BB foreign-currency rating remains stable.

The CreditWatch placement follows YPF's parent company Repsol-YPF SA's (BBB/stable/A-2) recent announcement that it has reached an agreement with Petersen Group to sell a 14.9% stake in YPF for $2.2 billion, S&P noted.

According to public information, the Petersen Group will finance the acquisition with sizable amounts of debt at the holding company level, which would add certain pressure on YPF to maintain its current aggressive dividend policy, S&P said, adding that this becomes particularly relevant in light of YPF's capital expenditure needs to maintain an adequate reserve base.

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