Reuters: Mergers News: UPDATE 1-Caixa denies plans for Repsol and Gas Natural merger

Reuters: Mergers News Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

UPDATE 1-Caixa denies plans for Repsol and Gas Natural merger Apr 27th 2012, 07:25 Fri Apr 27, 2012 3:25am EDT * Merger would aim to prevent hostile moves on Repsol -report * Repsol may need to boost size to ward off hostile moves * Repsol shares fall 2 pct, Gas Natural down 0.5 pct MADRID, April 27 (Reuters) - Spanish banking group La Caixa , which owns stakes in oil major Repsol and utility Gas Natural, denied orchestrating a merger between the two energy groups on Friday. Spanish financial newspaper Cinco Dias said a merger would be aimed at preventing hostile takeover moves on Repsol since Argentina decided to expropriate its stake in energy firm YPF . "La Caixa is not studying or contemplating any merger for Repsol. All of our efforts are focused on resolving the YPF crisis," a spokeswoman said on Friday. La Caixa holds 12.8 percent of Repsol and 35.3 percent of Gas Natural. Last week, Argentina President Cristina Fernandez decided to seize control of 51 percent of YPF controlled by Repsol, a move that the Argentine Senate and a lower house committee supported on Thursday. Following the loss of YPF, analysts said another option for Repsol to boost its size would be to sell its 30 percent stake in Gas Natural and use the proceeds to buy a medium-sized oil company such as Portuguese group Galp. Repsol declined to comment. Its shares fell 2 percent in early Madrid trading, while Gas Natural was down 0.5 percent, compared to a 1.6 percent fall on Spain's blue chip index after Standard & Poor's cut Spain's credit rating by two notches late Thursday. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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