as its civilian predecessors, a path that regarded YPF as a convenient source of funds to ease the country's chronic and serious fiscal deficit position. The death in a helicopter crash of the firm's director, Raúl Ondarts, and the appointment of General Guillermo Suárez Mason in 1981 was followed by a period of severe mismanagement, moreover. Powerful as head of the First Army Corps (which committed many of the "Dirty War" atrocities), Suárez Mason installed many of his hard-line Army Intelligence colleagues in managerial posts at YPF. They in turn diverted large quantities of fuel into the director's newly established company Sol Petróleo, a dummy corporation used by Suárez Mason and his appointees for embezzlement as well as to divert funds to the Contras and the fascist organization P2 (to which the director belonged). Suárez Mason had YPF borrow heavily not only to cover such asset stripping but also at the behest of Economy Minister José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz, whose bid for currency strength and policy of financial deregulation required a sharp rise in foreign debt to maintain. YPF debts thus rose 142-fold during Suárez Mason's tenure, at the end of which in 1983 the company recorded a US$6 billion loss (the largest in the world at the time). YPF nonetheless remained the 365th largest firm in the world, with sales of over US$4 billion in 1992. Argentine President Carlos Menem initiated the privatization of YPF through an IPO on the New York and other stock exchanges on 28 June 1993, at a value of US$3 billion for stock equal to a 45% share in the company. During the 18 months prior to the IPO, YPF underwent a massive restructuring process led by its new CEO José Estenssoro, who had been appointed by President Menem. The staff of YPF was reduced from 52,000 to 10,600 through layoffs agreed with unions and outsourcing of services to companies established by former YPF employees during the restructuring process. The financial bottom line for the company was increased from a loss about $1 billion in 1991 (although the accounting system at the time could not accurately compute actual profit) to a profit of $1 billion in 1993, and the underlying value of YPF was increased from about US$2 billion to the US$9 billion after privatization. Estenssoro stayed on as CEO, and further streamlined the company while expanding its reach outside Argentina, acquiring Maxus