Brazil

When it comes to companies saddled with multibillion-dollar fines, Oi SA sits on a very short list. But the Brazil telecom giant stands out in the notorious club that includes Volkswagen AG, Odebrecht SA and BP Plc. The German carmaker and Odebrecht, a Brazilian builder, each got hit with mega fines after years-long schemes that swindled governments and consumers, Bloomberg News reported. Odebrecht’s misdeeds even helped tip Latin America’s largest nation into a two-year depression that reduced gross domestic product by almost 10 percent. And Oi’s sin? It didn’t fix phone booths fast enough.

Brazilian phone carrier Oi SA’s board has approved a plan to cut a 65.4 billion-real ($21 billion) debt burden that includes a capital injection, in an effort to emerge faster from bankruptcy protection and avert a government intervention, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday. According to the person, who requested anonymity because the matter remains private, Oi’s largest shareholders have agreed with a management proposal to inject 9 billion reais into the carrier, part of it through a debt-for-equity swap, Reuters reported.

The Brazilian government is seeking 40 billion reais ($12.7 billion) from construction and engineering conglomerate Andrade Gutierrez SA to settle claims related to its participation in a graft scheme, newspaper O Globo reported on Sunday. Citing calculations from members of the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the Comptroller General, O Globo said the fine is a condition for the signature of a leniency agreement that would allow the firm to continue bidding for government contracts, Reuters reported.

Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris said on Thursday he has put his interest in investing in Oi SA on hold because of infighting and a lack of decision-making at the debt-laden Brazilian mobile carrier. Sawiris would consider an investment via Orascom TMT Holdings SAE, the carrier he controls, should creditors and shareholders of Rio de Janeiro-based Oi settle their disputes, he told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Capri, Italy.

Oi SA’s bankruptcy saga took a new twist this week as Chief Financial Officer Ricardo Malavazi Martins resigned, prompting a rebuke from Brazil’s telecommunications regulator. Juarez Quadros, president of the regulator known as Anatel, told reporters Tuesday the departure is “worrisome” and said it worsens an already bad situation for the phone giant mired in $19 billion of debt, Bloomberg News reported.

Abengoa Bioenergia Brasil SA became the latest Brazilian sugar and ethanol producer to file for bankruptcy protection following the country’s economic crisis and a slump in commodity prices, Bloomberg News reported. The company, a unit of Spain’s Abengoa SA, requested judicial protection in a court in Santa Cruz das Palmeiras municipality, Sao Paulo state, it said in an emailed statement Tuesday. Its bank debt was 837 million reais ($265 million) as of December. The move followed unsuccessful attempts over the last 19 months to attract outside investors and restructure its debt.

Abengoa Bioenergia Brasil, the Brazilian sugar and ethanol arm of struggling Spanish conglomerate Abengoa SA, said on Tuesday it had filed for bankruptcy protection. The company, which operates two mills, said in an emailed statement that it had tried unsuccessfully for the last 19 months to find investors with fresh capital to keep its operations running, Reuters reported. “Brazil’s current economic and political crisis, along with the 40 percent drop in sugar prices, led investors showing initial interest in the company to flee,” the company said in the statement.

State-controlled oil producer Petróleo Brasileiro SA and Sete Brasil Participações SA have agreed to choose a mediator for a legal dispute that forced the rig leaser to seek creditor protection against 18 billion reais ($5.7 billion) of debt, Reuters reported. In a Thursday securities filing, Petrobras said Gustavo Binenbojm had been picked by both parties to mediate the dispute. Founded in 2008 to fill the world’s biggest deep-water drilling fleet order, Sete Brasil had to file for bankruptcy protection last year after efforts to secure a long-term contract with Petrobras failed.

Brazil’s Mines and Energy Ministry has canceled nine licenses to build transmission lines that had been granted to Spain’s Abengoa SA after the company abandoned construction works in 2015, a senior official said on Wednesday. The decision formalizing cancellation of the licenses was published in the Wednesday edition of the official gazette, Reuters reported. The cancellation will not exempt the company from paying legal fines related to projects, according to the decision. The company did not have an immediate comment on the cancellation of the licenses.

A move by Brazil’s telecommunications industry watchdog to analyze whether to remove Oi SA’s operating license will further complicate Latin America’s largest-ever bankruptcy protection case, now in its 15th month, a person with knowledge of the matter said. The person, who asked for anonymity to discuss the issue freely, said Thursday’s announcement by regulator Anatel was “surprising,” given that a vote on Oi’s in-court reorganization plan was scheduled for Oct. 9, Reuters reported. Talks between shareholders and creditors are “going well,” the person added.