Spain: Repsol Stake To Remain IN Spanish Ownership

“As of today the group La Caixa is holding no talks over the sale of such stake,” the Barcelona-based lender said  in a regulatory filing. Officials at La Caixa weren’t immediately available for a comment. Criteria Caixacorp SA, La Caixa’s holding company, last month said it was in talks with OAO Lukoil, Russia’s largest non-state crude producer, on selling part of its 13 percent holding in Spain’s largest oil company. Spanish builder Sacyr Vallehermoso SA is also seeking to sell its 20 percent stake in Repsol to reduce debt.

“If Caixa holds on to its stake this will help Sacyr to get a better price and lessen the opposition to a sale,” Bruno Almeida de Silva, a Porto-based analyst at Banco BPI SA, said. “Sacyr really needs to sell because the value of its loan changes at the end of the year.”

Sacyr borrowed 6.5 billion euros ($9.3 billion) in 2006 to finance buying the Repsol stake.  Sacyr, which owes about eight times its own value, said in September it would try to sell assets to cut debt. It agreed to sell highway operator unit Itinere Infraestructuras SA to a Citigroup Inc. fund in a $10 billion transaction this month. The deal may take some months to conclude and still leaves it owing more than five times its own worth.

Although Spain’s government said it would not interfere with agreements between private companies, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has said he wished for Repsol to remain under “a Spanish flag.”

“The political impact surrounding the stake in Repsol could well be behind La Caixa’s decision to keep the stake for the time being,” said Almeida da Silva. Lukoil’s Chief Executive Officer Vagit Alekperov said on Dec. 17 that there was “no concrete proposal” on buying a stake in Repsol.

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