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.
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Restructuring Brazilian low-cost carrier Gol swung to a net loss of R1.1 billion ($221 million) in the fourth quarter, the first results it has disclosed since entering bankruptcy protection in January, FlightGlobal reported. The loss compared to a net profit of R231 million for the same period in 2022 and reflects the R1.1 billion impact of foreign exchange losses and other one-off items during the fourth quarter.
Brazil's finance ministry unveiled on Tuesday its proposal to reduce the burden of states' debt to the federal government, conditioned upon allocating resources to technical high school education, Reuters reported. The move comes after several governors have requested lower charges, arguing that the amount paid in interest is excessively high and hampers investment.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s plan to help Brazilians escape the record amounts of debt they amassed during the pandemic remains well short of its targets as it approaches its March 31 expiration, denting his efforts to unleash consumer spending and boost growth in Latin America’s largest economy, Bloomberg News reported. Desenrola, as the program is known, was expected to help as many as 70 million people, including 30 million with lower incomes and smaller debts.
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Brazil is putting the finishing touches on a rescue plan for its troubled airlines, as President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government confronts a challenge the US and Europe dealt with much sooner after the pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. The package, to be announced in coming days, will use public funds as collateral for loans to struggling carriers from the country’s development bank, according to a person familiar with the matter. But the plan is still in flux and it’s expected to be more of a band-aid solution than an industry cure-all.
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Brazil's consumer prices rose slightly more than expected in February, reaching the highest monthly figure in one year driven by increased education prices, government statistics agency IBGE said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Inflation, measured by the IPCA index, was at 0.83% last month compared with January. Education prices rose 4.98% in the month, responsible for 0.29 percentage points of the data as schools and universities hike tuition fees at the start of the year. Food and beverage prices also contributed to the results, IBGE said.
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Agricultural powerhouse Brazil is harvesting one bumper crop after another. Yet, growers are going bankrupt at an alarming rate, dealing a blow to investors in the fast-growing $7 billion market for agribusiness funding, Bloomberg News reported. Tumbling corn and soybean prices are sparking defaults, undermining returns for so-called Fiagros, the Brazilian investment funds backed by agricultural receivables such as interest, dividends and land-lease payments.
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Brazilian farmer bankruptcy requests shot through the roof in 2023, according to a new survey from data services company Serasa Experian, reflecting higher business risks for global grain traders in one of the world's biggest food producers, the New Straits Times reported. According to Serasa's data released on Thursday, there were 127 farmer bankruptcy filings last year, up 53 per cent from the year before.
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The Brazilian airline Azul SA is working with Citigroup Inc. and Guggenheim Partners as it explores a potential offer for its troubled competitor Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA, Bloomberg News reported. Shares in both companies rallied. The companies are advising Azul as it weighs several options, including an outright acquisition of its rival. Azul still could decide to shelve the idea. Any offer would need approval from the country’s regulator — known as Cade.
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