Argentina’s proposed takeover of Vicentín spooks investors

LatinFinance

In an article published by LatinFinance on June 10, Cefeidas Group Managing Director Juan Cruz Díaz was quoted on the Argentine government’s proposed takeover of struggling agriculture company Vicentín, one of the country’s main exporters of soybean meal and oil.

The proposed expropriation is the latest effort to bailout Vicentín, a company long considered too big to fail because of its importance as a buyer from small-hold farmers, said Juan Cruz Díaz, a director of Cefeidas Group, an international advisory firm in Buenos Aires. Under the previous administration of President Mauricio Macri, Banco Nación and other state-owned banks loaned Vicentín millions of dollars to try to keep it afloat.

Díaz said he does not expect a flurry of asset grabs by the state because the move is designed to gain the government a foothold in the agriculture sector, a key generator of dollar inflows from its exports. That would help to eventually rebuild foreign reserves and service the national debt during an economic recovery. He based his opinion on the choice of YPF to run the business, and the appointment of Gabriel Delgado as the overseer during the transition. Delgado is a well-respected economist who has worked for years in the agriculture sector as a professional and, from 2013 to 2015, as the country’s secretary of agriculture. “He is a good choice, an industry professional, not a politician,” Díaz said.

To read the full article, please click here.