Brazil

Brazilian fertilizer company Fertilizantes Heringer SA proposed to repay unsecured creditors 20 percent of amounts owed them and to sell seven non-operating plants, as part of its restructuring plan, according to a securities filing on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in February, closing nine of its plants in Brazil and laying off workers, as its liquidity situation deteriorated. Heringer’s unsecured creditors hold 1.7 billion reais of the company’s debt, the document showed. Secured creditors would be paid 60 percent what they were owed.

BNP Paribas on Wednesday denied having sued Astaldi, adding that it was the Italian builder that had launched legal action against the French lender on March 13, Reuters reported. The bank said it and other lenders were sued by Astaldi over the payment of an international guarantee issued by BNP Paribas at the request of the Italian group in favour of National Bank of Canada. The legal move was “totally groundless”, BNP added. Earlier on Wednesday, Italian daily Il Messaggero reported that BNP had sued Astaldi over an alleged breach of a contract in Canada, complicating its rescue plan.

Terra Forte, one of the largest Brazilian coffee exporters, has filed for bankruptcy protection in a Sao Paulo state court, lawyers for the company said on Wednesday. Law firm Freire, Assis, Sakamoto e Violante said Terra Forte was looking to restructure 1.1 billion reais ($288.2 million) in debt, Reuters reported. It also said the exporter was seeking to raise 60 million reais in working capital from investors to maintain operations. Terra Forte is a well-known player in the international coffee market.

A Brazilian appeals court ruled on Monday in favor of several Avianca Brasil lessors, granting them the right to repossess over 15 planes, legal records show, amid a renewed push to retrieve the Airbus jets from the struggling airline, Reuters reported. Avianca Brasil filed for bankruptcy in December after falling behind on airplane lease payments and has managed to hold on to most of its planes amid a dizzying number of court cases.

Creditors led by hedge fund Elliott Management approved on Friday a restructuring plan for bankrupt airline Avianca Brasil, hours after the country’s antitrust regulator announced preemptively that the plan could run afoul of competition laws, Reuters reported. The regulator, known as CADE, said on Friday morning that it could block the plan, which Avianca Brasil hopes could raise some $210 million. The carrier filed for bankruptcy protection in December.

Brazilian airline Avianca Brasil plans to split into seven units that it will auction off separately, with rivals LATAM Airlines and Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes both planning to bid for some of those parts in a bankruptcy auction, Reuters reported. The plan to split up the carrier, filed in a Brazilian court on Wednesday, is a significant departure from a previous proposal and adds fresh competition for some of the most-coveted airport slots in Brazil. But it also shuts the door on a previous offer by competitor Azul SA.

Brazilian energy firm Eneva SA announced a secondary offering of 49.97 million shares in a securities filing on Wednesday, confirming an earlier Reuters report. The firm, which owns gas-fired power plants and natural gas exploration and production assets in northeastern Brazil, said shareholders Itau Unibanco Holding SA, Uniper Holding GmbH, Banco BTG Pactual SA, Banco Pine SA , and Dommo Austria GmbH, a unit of Brazil’s Dommo Energia SA, plan to sell shares in the offering, Reuters reported.

Brazilian telecommunications firm Oi SA reported a big quarterly loss on Wednesday, sending shares of the heavily indebted company down nearly 5 percent in morning trading, Reuters reported. Oi, Brazil’s largest fixed-line operator, reported a net loss of 3.359 billion reais ($858 million) in the fourth quarter of 2018 late on Tuesday, 65.7 percent more than the loss it reported a year earlier. Total revenue fell 7.9 percent.

Brazilian carrier Avianca Brasil will reduce its fleet size and cease operations at Rio de Janeiro’s international airport as it downsizes in the wake of a bankruptcy filing in December, the firm said on Tuesday. The company said in a statement it would seek to reduce the number of destinations it serves to 23 and cut its fleet size to 26 planes over the month of April, Reuters reported. It will also cease operations in the cities of Belem and Petrolina, as well as at Rio de Janeiro-Galeao International Airport.

Privately owned Brazilian agribusiness group Itaquere has filed for bankruptcy protection to restructure 482 million reais ($127 million) of debt, according to a letter from management seen by Reuters, Reuters reported. In the letter dated March 21, the group, based in Brazil’s top grains state Mato Grosso, blames a prolonged economic crisis, along with adverse climate conditions and currency swings, for its financial woes. The letter was signed by the group but not by any particular executive.