Brazil

Accounting firm BDO declined to replace PriceWaterhouseCoopers in the in-court restructuring of Brazilian carrier Oi SA, BDO said in a statement on Friday. The judge overseeing the restructuring dropped PwC from the case on March 31 alleging the firm made accounting mistakes in the biggest bankruptcy filing in the country's history. In his decision, judge Fernando Cesar Viana appointed BDO to replace PwC. But BDO said in Friday's statement that it had decided not to take the task, despite keeping its work as Oi's auditor through 2019.

Odebrecht SA is rewarding some bondholders while others get burned, Bloomberg News reported. Notes issued by the holding company and backed by the construction arm plunged Wednesday after newspaper Valor Economico reported executives had told creditors that it will inevitably file for bankruptcy. The bonds are the worst performers in Brazil this year, losing more than a third of their value, as speculation mounted the scandal-tainted builder would struggle to meet its obligations.

The Brazilian government is taking longer to finalize a decree that would allow it to intervene in debt-ridden Oi SA because it could impact other sectors beyond domestic phone carriers, an official familiar with the matter said on Monday, Reuters reported. Although the decree is aimed at phone and broadband service providers, the official said the legal change could also allow for intervention in other infrastructure sectors such as railways, highways and energy. "A legal change cannot be done only for the telecommunications sector.

Oi SA and one of its largest shareholders are pushing back against calls for a government takeover to usher the Brazilian phone company out of bankruptcy protection, Bloomberg News reported. Groups unhappy with the company’s restructuring plan are pressuring the government to intervene, even though the bankruptcy process is following its course and operations have been unaffected, said Nelson Tanure, the company’s second-largest shareholder.

Odebrecht Óleo & Gás SA, the offshore oil drilling company owned by Brazil's Odebrecht SA, has won temporary relief from investors despite pledging to honor interest payments on a bond a week after deadline, Reuters reported. In a Friday statement, the company known as OOG said investors would receive on April 7 an interest payment on the company's 6.75 percent global note due in October 2022 67576GAA5= that was due on March 1. OOG was making use of a so-called 30-day cure period expiring later on Friday to settle the payment.

The two biggest bondholder groups in Brazilian telephone operator Oi SA said on Friday they "strongly oppose" the terms of a new debt restructuring plan the company intends to present in bankruptcy court, Reuters reported. Claiming the proposed terms "were not previously negotiated with either of the Oi bondholder groups," the creditors said in a joint statement that Oi has "failed to engage" with them, nine months after filing for bankruptcy protection. Read more.

A new reorganization plan from Brazil's debt-laden phone carrier Oi SA boosted shares on Thursday, but analysts continued to focus on the need for fresh capital after a heavy fourth-quarter loss, Reuters reported. Changes to the plan revealed late on Wednesday would offer Oi's financial creditors 25 percent of its equity or convertible bonds to be called in three years, at which point they could own up to 38 percent of the company's shares.

Grupo Schahin said on Monday it can execute a reorganization plan after an appeals court favored the ailing Brazilian engineering and rig-leasing conglomerate over disgruntled creditors, according to a statement, Reuters reported. The reorganization, confirmed by a bankruptcy court a year ago, was challenged by a 13-bank consortium led by Itaú Unibanco SA, the statement said. Schahin's reorganization foresees repayment of 6.5 billion reais ($2 billion) of defaulted debt over a 15-year period, without any deductions, the company said.

It’s hard to find a pessimist among Brazil investors these days, even though there’s plenty to be worried about. Traders who pushed the real and Ibovespa stock index to some of the world’s biggest gains over the past year see a rosy outlook for President Michel Temer’s chances of pushing through pension, labor and tax reforms that are needed for Brazil to regain investment-grade status, Bloomberg News reported. They’re ignoring signs of a sluggish economy, chaotic politics and a new chapter in a corruption scandal that threatens to paralyze the government.

Investigations into Brazil’s embattled construction giant Odebrecht SA are exposing a larger network of graft in Latin America than was already revealed in a massive anticorruption settlement, according to prosecutors in several countries, The Wall Street Journal reported. Since the firm admitted in December to paying nearly $800 million in bribes, authorities across Latin America have launched new investigations that are beginning to ensnare former high-ranking officials and other companies beyond Odebrecht.