Slim buys 8.4% of YPF shares

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim announced today that he bought shares of Argentine oil company YPF and said that he sees potential in the company, which could have one of the largest oil and non conventional gas in the world.

YPF and Slim spokesperson confirmed that the world’s richest man owns 8.4 percent of the company’ shares, which following Thursday’s Wall Street session, are worth US$ 343.9 million. The shares were bought to a bank union.

“In time we will analyze our options, and for the moment we will remain like this,” Slim spokesman Arturo Elías Ayub said when asked if the businessman plans to increase his shares in the company.

He added that they see YPF as a soilid company with a growth potential. The banks union had loaned money to the Argentine Petersen Group to buy shares in YPF but following the company’s nationalization the group did not pay its debt and the shares went back to the banks.

YPF did not immediately comment on the news.