BTG Pactual, one of the creditors of Americanas, has obtained an injunction that meets its request to freeze BRL 1.2 billion (USD 232 million) in investments by the retail giant in the bank, as collateral for early debt payments.
This is reportedly the first judicial decision to go against the precautionary measure that a Rio de Janeiro business court granted Americanas last Friday, preventing the freezing of its assets and delaying debt payment obligations until the company assesses whether it will file for bankruptcy protection or not.
A week ago, Americanas reported “inconsistencies” in its accounting entries that could amount to BRL 20 billion (USD 3.9 billion). The error, former CEO Sergio Rial said during a videoconference with analysts, stems from the fact that “many payments to suppliers that were funded by banks were not considered as debt [as they should be].”
Two days later, Americanas filed the injunction request in which it said the accounting error could lead to “the early and immediate maturity of debts that could reach BRL 40 billion (nearly USD 7.8 billion).”
Other creditors, such as Banco Votorantim and Goldman Sachs, are also trying to obtain in court the right to at least freeze the resources they are entitled to as payment for financing and investments.
The company has 30 days to decide on its bankruptcy protection request, and the backlash from creditors could push it even further in this direction.
So far, Brazil’s Securities Commission, CVM, opened three investigations into Americanas. The watchdog is determined to scrutinize the independent committee that the company put together to assess the situation. But investors expect more as they feel the company lacked transparency — to say the least — when disclosing the problem.
Besides CVM and creditors, Ibraci, an association gathering minority shareholders of publicly traded companies, filed a public civil lawsuit seeking compensation for moral and material damages to individual consumers, investors, and shareholders.
On Tuesday, Americanas named a new chief financial officer, Camille Loyo Faria. Ms. Faria has already paid fines to settle CVM investigations into infractions of the rules on how relevant facts must be disclosed to investors.
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