BUENOS AIRES-The Span­ish-run oil com­pa­ny YPF has re­ject­ed an Ar­gen­tine ef­fort to as­sert con­trol over its prof­its in the South Amer­i­can coun­try, vot­ing to re­cap­i­talise its gains rather than cre­ate a sep­a­rate fund to de­vel­op new en­er­gy re­sources. The pro­pos­al to pay up to $1.3 bil­lion in stock rather than cash div­i­dends goes to YPF share­hold­ers next month.

YPF says the mon­ey will re­main in Ar­genti­na to be in­vest­ed in the busi­ness. The gov­ern­ment of Pres­i­dent Cristi­na Fer­nan­dez had pro­posed putting it in a sep­a­rate fund that would be more dif­fi­cult to liq­ui­date. The out­come of yes­ter­day's board meet­ing has deep­ened the con­flict be­tween the gov­ern­ment and the com­pa­ny now con­trolled by Spain's Rep­sol firm. YPF re­mains Ar­genti­na's largest com­pa­ny and is key the coun­try's en­er­gy fu­ture.