IMPSA is pre-awarded to a company close to Donald Trump

Prior to his trip to the United States to participate in the inauguration of Donald Trump, President Javier Milei will be able to specify the first sale of a State company into private hands. Between this Tuesday and Wednesday, the pre-award of the privatization of Impsa to the American company ARC Energy.

The different actors in the bidding process confirmed to Clarion that an agreement has already been reached and that the decision to award the company based in Mendoza, which belonged to businessman Enrique Pescarmona and was nationalized in the government of Alberto Fernández, is a fact.

“Impsa will be pre-awarded this week. The takeover of the new owners is scheduled for February,” said one of the negotiators.

The ARC Energy company must immediately pay nearly 7 million dollars, which is 25% of its proposed capitalization of 27 million dollars. The rest must be disbursed throughout 2025, it will be done with working capital during the search process for new contracts. They will aim to win tenders for cranes for ports and maintenance of hydroelectric plants in the United States.

Another topic that was under discussion and that has already been closed is the possibility of renegotiation of current contracts that Impsa had, with the Ministry of Defense, YPF and other state organizations.

The last step that the ARC board wants to take is to ensure the compliance, through a letter of intent, of the main creditors that there will be renegotiation of debts.

Impsa’s liabilities are calculated at 570 million dollars. Among the main creditors are Banco Nación, the IDB, the BICE, and the Chilean corporation Grupo Moneda. “We hope to have the letters of intent to renegotiate signed before mid-February,” they said.

ARC was the only bidder for Impsa. The company is based in Louisiana, near Houston, United States. The president of ARC, Jason Arceneaux, and two of the company’s directors, of Venezuelan origin, They are contributors to Donald Trump’s campaignand celebrate the good relationship of the president who takes office on February 20 with Milei.

“We are staying in the United States to participate in the inauguration of President Trump, the last week of January, we are going to travel to Mendoza to finish closing the letters of intent with the creditors and be able to take possession of the company in February,” said a ARC advisor.

At the Impsa headquarters, on Rodriguez Peña Lane, in Godoy Cruz, the 660 employees anxiously wait to close an award stage, which has been delayed by dissent between what ARC Energy proposed in the renegotiation of contracts with the State and debt restructuring.

The staff has not yet been paid this month (they usually charge on the first business day of the month). Management’s commitment is that the entire December salary will be paid in the coming days. The total amount in salaries is 1,400 million pesos per month.

IMPSA is one of the most important companies in Argentina in the sector metallurgical and energywith key participation in hydroelectric projects, wind farms, nuclear energy and equipment for the oil and gas industry.

In 2021, after a long crisis for the company due to bad business in Brazil and failed contracts with Venezuela, the government of Alberto Fernández was left with the majority shareholding in Industrias Metalúrgicas Pescarmona.

On October 1, the Milei government opened the call for international bidding. Was several interested parties but a single offeror. On October 31, 2024, ARG offered $27 million to guarantee the continuity of the company created in 1907.

On Friday, December 6, the Ministry of Economy requested a time to improve supply conditions. Between the end of December and the beginning of January, the award committee asked ARC to detail the central points of its final offer.

There were negotiations for pending contracts with the state and definitions about what negotiation capacity there will be with creditors. The last stage was closed last week and all that remains is to communicate the award.

63.7% of Impsa’s shares are part of the National Fund for Productive Development (Fondep), controlled by the Ministry of Economy of the Nation. And, 21.2% of the shares remained in the hands of the Mendoza government. This 84.9% of IMPSA shares are those that would pass to the North American company.

Arc Energy is interested stay with the business of large cranes for ports, that will allow replace Chinese cranes, that Joe Biden has put out to tender, mostly in the ports of the United States. The objective of new contracts for IMPSA is more feasible after Donald Trump comes to power.