Argentina approves energy takeover

Argentina’s takeover of its formerly state-owned energy company from Spanish shareholders won easy approval from legislators.

Congress’ lower house voted 207-32 to give the force of law to what President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner surprisingly decreed two weeks earlier: the expropriation of the Spanish company Repsol SA’s $10.5bn stake in the YPF oil company, without a single centavo paid in advance.