A U.S. appeals court has granted Argentina’s request to suspend actions aimed at enforcing a judgment against the South American country in the multibillion-dollar litigation over the nationalization of oil company YPF, pending a final ruling in the case.
Sources close to the matter said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit accepted Argentina’s emergency request to halt the discovery process related to enforcing a 2023 judgment issued by New York District Judge Loretta Preska.
The court suspended the discovery process while it considers Argentina’s appeal against the $16 billion ruling.
The nationalization of YPF was carried out by the government of Cristina Fernández (2007–2015) and approved by Argentina’s Congress in 2012, through a law that granted the state a 51% stake in the company, which Spain’s Repsol had owned.
The case in New York courts began in 2015, when UK-based Burford Capital and U.S.-based Eton Park filed a lawsuit after acquiring litigation rights from two Spanish-incorporated companies that later went bankrupt: Petersen Energía Inversora and Petersen Energía.
These two companies had previously belonged to Argentina’s Petersen Group, owned by the Eskenazi family, which held a 25% stake in YPF at the time of its nationalization.
Burford Capital and Eton Park sought substantial compensation, arguing that Argentina should have launched a tender offer for the remaining shares not held by Repsol.
In 2023, Judge Preska ruled in their favor, ordering Argentina to pay $16.1 billion. Argentina appealed the ruling before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
In June 2025, Preska ordered Argentina to transfer its 51% stake in YPF to the plaintiffs, a decision the country has appealed.
