Repsol Said to Hire BNP Paribas, Goldman for Unit Stake Sale

By Juan Pablo Spinetto and Esteban Duarte

Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Repsol YPF SA, Spain's largest oil company, hired BNP Paribas SA to coordinate the initial public offering of a stake in its Argentinian unit, working with banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Credit Suisse Group AG, two people with knowledge of the appointment said.

UBS AG, Banco Santander SA, Raymond James & Associates Inc. and Banco Itau BBA SA are also managing the sale of a 20 percent stake of YPF SA, as the subsidiary is known, said the people, who declined to be named before a public announcement. The sale of the stake could generate between 2 billion euros ($2.9 billion) and 3 billion euros in cash for Repsol, Deutsche Bank AG analyst James Hubbard wrote in a report in March.

Madrid-based Repsol is raising money to invest in Libya, Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico while reducing ties to Argentina, where it gets 64 percent of its oil and gas output. Repsol paid $15.5 billion for more than 80 percent of YPF in 1999.

In February, Repsol completed the sale of a 15 percent stake in YPF to Argentinian investor Enrique Eskenazi for $2.2 billion. He has an option to buy another 10 percent of the unit.

Repsol plans to carry out the offering in the second half of this year, Chief Operating Officer Miguel Martinez said on a conference call July 31.

BNP Paribas will play a global co-ordinating role while other banks will manage orders for the stock, the people said. The banks are not underwriting the offer, they added.

Transaction Banks

A Madrid-based spokesman at Repsol declined to comment. Pascal Henisse, a media officer for BNP Paribas, said that the French bank is a financial advisor to Repsol, declining to elaborate.

Joanna Carss, spokeswoman at Goldman, Anthea Penrose, a press official for Raymond James, Rowan Staines, spokeswoman at UBS, Marcia Leal, press officer at Banco Itau, and a Santander spokesman in Madrid declined to comment. Credit Suisse's press officer Carly Shearer didn't return calls asking for a comment.

To contact the reporters on this story: Juan Pablo Spinetto in London at jspinetto@bloomberg.netEsteban Duarte en Madrid eduarterubia@bloomberg.net