Argentina Wins Irish Ruling in $16.1 B YPF Expropriation Case

An Irish court has rejected a petition by litigation funder Burford Capital and U.S. hedge fund Eton Park to recognise and enforce in Ireland the $16.1 billion judgment they won last year in New York over Argentina’s 2012 nationalisation of energy company YPF. The ruling, issued this week, is the first refusal by a foreign jurisdiction to endorse the U.S. award and weakens the funds’ strategy of chasing Argentine assets worldwide while the case is still on appeal in the United States. The Irish decision comes days after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit paused a lower-court order that would have forced Buenos Aires to hand over its 51% stake in YPF as partial payment. The stay allows Argentina to pursue its appeal without having to lodge collateral or surrender the shares, which remain central to the government’s control of the country’s biggest oil and gas producer. Burford and Eton Park acquired the claims from former YPF shareholder Petersen in 2015 and prevailed before U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska in September 2023. Argentina is challenging both the size of the damages and Preska’s finding that it breached YPF’s bylaws when it failed to make a tender offer to minority investors during the takeover. While the appeal winds through U.S. courts, the Irish setback complicates the plaintiffs’ efforts to secure parallel enforcement, potentially buying Argentina more time to negotiate or overturn the record-setting award.