Brazil

Grupo Casas Bahia SA shares jumped as much as 21% after the Brazilian retailer filed an out-of-court deal with its main creditors to reschedule the payment of 4.1 billion reais ($801 million) in debt, Bloomberg News reported. The plan was built with Banco Bradesco SA and Banco do Brasil SA, the main creditors, which hold approximately 55% of the debt in bank loans, according to Casas Bahia’s chief financial officer, Elcio Ito.

Brazil’s jobless rate ticked up less than expected last month, likely adding to central bankers’ concerns that the labor market is running too hot, Bloomberg News reported. Official data released Tuesday showed the unemployment rate rose to 7.9% in March from a month earlier as nearly 8.6 million people were jobless in the period. The central bank plans to lower the benchmark interest rate by half-point next month and is keeping a close eye on hiring as it charts its subsequent moves.

Brazil’s inflation cooled more than expected in early April, but fell short of soothing policymakers’ fears about lingering price pressures on Latin America’s largest economy, Bloomberg News reported. Official data released Friday showed prices increased 0.21% in the first two weeks of April from a month earlier, less than all estimates in a Bloomberg survey, whose median forecast was 0.29%. Annual inflation came in at 3.77%.

In a conference room of the run-down headquarters of Brazilian retailer Americanas SA, Camille Loyo Faria agrees that the office has seen better days, Bloomberg News reported. It’s “ugly, as a company in judicial recovery should be,” the chief financial officer says. The 50-year-old started at the Rio de Janeiro-based company on Feb. 1, 2023, in the wake of its bankruptcy protection measure and accounting fraud that eventually reached 25 billion reais ($4.8 billion) — one of the biggest-ever in Brazil. It’s just the latest company that Faria has helped pull out of distress.

LATAM Airlines' share of Brazil's domestic market reached its highest level in 11 years in March, data from local aviation regulator ANAC showed on Monday, while rival Gol continued to falter after filing for bankruptcy, Reuters reported. The Brazilian unit of Chile-based LATAM had a market share of 41% in the month as defined by revenue passenger-kilometers (RPK), according to ANAC figures, which the firm said was its highest since the 41.6% reached in July 2013.

Azul SA’s pursuit of a merger with Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA has gained momentum, with talks underway for a deal with the controlling shareholder of the rival Brazilian airline, Bloomberg News reported. In one scenario under consideration, holding company Abra Group Ltd. would contribute its Gol shares to Azul in exchange for a stake in the combined airline, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because discussions are still private. That type of transaction could appeal to Azul because it wouldn’t have to commit much cash, if any.

Light SA will receive fresh cash and convert debt to equity under a preliminary restructuring deal it reached with creditors, Bloomberg News reported. The troubled Rio de Janeiro utility said in a filing released Monday the agreement in principal includes a capital injection of as much as 1.5 billion reais, the issuance of new notes and converting as much as 2.2 billion reais of existing debt into equity.

Rio de Janeiro’s utility Light SA reached an agreement with creditors, moving a step closer to leaving a bankruptcy protection process that started last year, Bloomberg News reported. The deal includes 1 billion reais ($200 million) in equity injection from the company’s main shareholders, Nelson Tanure, Ronaldo Cezar Coelho and Carlos Alberto Da Veiga Sicupira, who own a combined 65% of the company.

Jorge Paulo Lemann, the billionaire Brazilian dealmaker, said that together with his long-time partners, he’s trying to save retailer Americanas SA after a massive $5 billion fraud pushed it into bankruptcy protection, Bloomberg News reported. The trio of investors, that includes Marcel Telles and Carlos Sicupira, have owned Americanas since the early 1980s and their stake stood at about 30% when the scandal broke. Now, in the midst of a debt restructuring and recapitalization, they’ll own about half of the business.