While Argentines listened in disbelief to President Javier Milei’s proposal to pay the $16 billion lawsuit lost in New York, investors “bought” the news and this Wednesday boosted Burford Capital shares. This is the law firm that acquired the right to take action against Argentina and won the case.
Burford shares rose 12% in New York, the largest increase since September 8, when the sentence was announced with the victory in the trial.
Burford shares have risen 83% in London this year compared to a 6.5% decline on the London Stock Exchange.
Milei suggested this Tuesday that the government is evaluating issue a perpetual bond pay the US court ruling for the nationalization of the oil company in 2012. Southern District of New York Court Judge Loretta Preska ruled that on January 10 Argentina will have to begin pay the sentence or the embargoes will begin.
Milei said, in an interview with LN+: “There is a problem because lwe do not have money. We don’t have $16 billion to pay. Yes, we have the willing to pay, willingness to pay.
And he added: “One of the ideas we are working on is to create the “Kicillof rate”. “That all Argentinians have to pay a certain amount of dollars every year because of the monstrous mistake made by Kicillof.”
The current governor of Buenos Aires was the one who carried out the expropriation of YPF when he was Minister of Economy. And Burford and other funds have accused the country of not following the YPF statutes which forced those who bought the majority share of the company to launch an offer for 100%, which Argentina did not do.
“It would be stupid to comply with the YPF law” Kicillof said in 2012, and Preska used that phrase as evidence in the trial, the largest amount against a sovereign state in US history.
At that time there were, among others, minority shareholdersthe Eskenazi family, who had joined the Argentine oil company at the request of Néstor Kirchner. Burford purchased the litigation rights against the Spanish company in which the Eskenazis held an interest.
Source: Clarin
