The judge overseeing the bankruptcy protection of Brazilian phone carrier Oi SA could force the company to call a shareholder vote on proposed changes to its board as soon as next week, according to a lawyer for an activist shareholder, Reuters reported. The ruling should come after the judge hears opinions from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the in-court administrator in Oi's bankruptcy, and the public prosecutor's office, João Mendes de Oliveira Castro, legal advisor to Oi's minority shareholder Société Mondiale, said in a phone interview on Thursday.

Brazilian phone carrier Oi SA wants creditors to cut debt by almost two-thirds and inject $1 billion in fresh cash to exit bankruptcy protection, O Globo newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing a person with direct knowledge of the matter, Reuters reported. Under terms of an accord that is under discussion between Oi bondholders represented by investment-banking firm Moelis & Co, and shareholders and management of Brazil's No. 4 wireless carrier, total debt would be reduced to about 25 billion reais ($7.6 billion) from the current 65.4 billion reais, Globo said, citing the source.

A group made of about 70 different bondholders in Oi SA vowed on Monday to work towards a successful in-court reorganization of Brazil's largest fixed-line phone carrier, Reuters reported. In a statement, the so-called Ad Hoc steering committee that is being advised by Moelis & Co said a letter by distressed debt investor Aurelius Capital Management LP in which it lambasts the Moelis-led group's restructuring proposal prior to Oi's bankruptcy filing is based on "incomplete and erroneous information" about the way Brazilian laws work.

Shares in Brazil's largest listed banks posted their biggest decline in a month on Thursday on concerns about the financial health of Odebrecht SA, the engineering group that is embroiled in a large corruption scandal, despite a denial by the company that it would seek an accommodation with creditors, Reuters reported yesterday. Odebrecht denied plans to seek an in-court reorganization, as reported yesterday by financial blog Brazil Journal. Ongoing negotiations with banks as well as efforts to sell assets "continue to be positive," the statement said.

Brazil's telecommunications industry watchdog Anatel yesterday proposed a list of four candidates to become the in-court administrator of phone carrier Oi SA, which last month filed for the nation's biggest-ever reorganization, Reuters reported. Brasilia-based Anatel picked Alvarez & Marsal Holdings LLC, BDO LLP, Deloitte & Touche LLP and PricewaterhouseCoopers as candidates for the role, Anatel said in a statement. The list was sent to Fernando Cesar Ferreira Viana, a Rio de Janeiro judge overseeing Oi's bankruptcy protection proceedings, the statement said.

Braskem SA said yesterday controlling shareholder Odebrecht Serviços e Participações SA has placed the entire stake it has in the firm as collateral for outstanding bank loans, in a sign of Odebrecht's challenging debt refinancing outlook, Reuters reported. No details on the accord between Odebrecht Serviços, a subsidiary of Grupo Odebrecht SA, and lenders were disclosed in a securities filing by Braskem. Odebrecht Serviços, a unit of Latin America's largest engineering group, has voting control of Braskem despite having a 38 percent stake in Latin America's biggest petrochemical firm.

The Inhauma shipyard in Brazil is the latest to succumb to a crisis that has wiped out nearly half of the country’s naval industry jobs in the past two years, leaving companies bankrupt and creditors unpaid, Bloomberg News reported today. State-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA, which had agreed to pay more to have platforms built at home to help jump-start the naval industry, is now sending work back to Asia, underscoring the vulnerabilities of an industry that basically relies on a single client.

Oi SA is sticking to its year-end goals of tripling subscribers who use multiple services and boosting investments by 25 percent even as the phone carrier works through Brazil’s biggest-ever bankruptcy, Chief Executive Officer Marco Schroeder said, Bloomberg News reported. The company is current in payments to suppliers and aims to continue on that front to guarantee service to customers during the bankruptcy process, Schroeder said in his first-sit down interview since taking the helm of the Rio de Janeiro-based operator a month ago.

Carlyle Group LP, the world's No. 2 private-equity manager, is in talks to sell its stake in Brazilian lingerie maker Scalina SA, following a series of setbacks that led to a debt restructuring, three sources with direct knowledge of the situation said, Reuters reported.

A minority investor in Oi SA, Brazil's largest fixed-line phone carrier, has called for the replacement of most of its board after the company filed for the country's biggest-ever bankruptcy protection, Reuters reported. Nelson Tanure, a Brazilian investor with a contentious track record, and partners have been buying up shares through a fund controlled by Bridge Administradora de Recursos Ltda, according to four sources familiar with the matter.