South America

Cash-strapped Brazilian oil company OGX Petróleo e Gás Participaçãoes SA may get to keep its oil exploration blocks even if it files for bankruptcy protection, the head of Brazil's petroleum regulator, the ANP, said on Thursday, Reuters reported. Keeping those blocks though will depend on the company, part of Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista's EBX Group, meeting all the conditions of its current concession contracts, Magda Chambriard, the ANP's general director told reporters in Rio de Janeiro.

Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista sold 0.66 percent of his stock in OSX Brasil SA, a shipbuilder and shipleaser, the company said in a securities filing on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Batista sold 2.07 million shares of Rio de Janeiro-based OSX for 0.7073 reais a share raising 1.47 million reais ($665,158) on Sept. 2, the statement said. OSX gets most of its business from Batista's troubled oil company OGX Petróleo e Gás SA. OSX shares have lost more than 90 percent of their value in the last year. Read more.

OSX Brasil SA bank creditors are considering taking possession of two vessels used as collateral on loans to Eike Batista’s shipbuilding company, according to six people with direct knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg reported. Banks are talking to advisers and OSX officials to evaluate whether they should execute guarantees if the oil-producing sister company goes into default, which would trigger cross-default clauses on OSX debt, said the people, asking not to be named as discussions are private.

The US Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider a landmark appeal by Argentina of a lower court's order to pay around $1.5 billion to two hedge funds, the Global Post reported on an Agence France-Presse story. But the decision did not end Argentina's avenues to challenge the 2012 ruling, supported in August on appeal, that it had to pay back all holders of its defaulted bonds, whether or not they took part in a restructuring of those bonds.

Brazilian oil producer OGX Petróleo e Gas Participações SA is meeting with U.S. creditors in New York on Monday in a bid to jump-start rescue talks while banks scamper to arrange an emergency loan for the company if no deal is reached, sources with knowledge of the situation told Reuters. Creditors were set to meet with a new advisory team for controlling shareholder Eike Batista aimed at averting a bankruptcy filing that could come as soon as this month, the sources said. OGX said last week that management is considering all measures to protect assets and stay in business.

OGX Petroleo & Gas Participacoes SA, the oil company controlled by former billionaire Eike Batista, is considering filing for bankruptcy protection in about a month, said two people with direct knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg reported. The filing would be done in Rio de Janeiro, said the people, asking not to be identified as discussions are private. While Batista is negotiating with creditors to avoid the same process for shipbuilder OSX Brasil SA, the most likely outcome is that both companies will seek legal protection, they said.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday took no action on an appeal by the government of Argentina in a closely watched sovereign-debt case, The Wall Street Journal reported. The high court added eight new cases to its docket Tuesday but made no mention of Argentina's appeal. The court could indicate as soon as next Monday what it plans to do with the case. At issue is Argentina's legal fight with holdout creditors that refused to accept the country's debt-restructuring offers after its historic default in 2001.

Brazilian oil producer OGX Petróleo e Gas Participações SA is on track to forego a $44.5 million interest payment due on Tuesday, two sources with knowledge of the plans said, moving the company closer to the largest Latin American corporate debt default ever, Reuters reported. Should the company decide to miss the coupon payment, an announcement will be made within a few days, said one of the sources. The other said OGX wants to use a 30-day grace period that starts when the company misses the payment to conclude debt restructuring talks with bondholders.

OGX Petróleo e Gás SA and OSX Brasil SA, the oil company and the shipbuilder controlled by Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista, will seek court protection within a couple of weeks, Veja magazine reported on Saturday without saying how it obtained the information, Reuters reported. Efforts to reach spokeswomen at OGX and EBX, the parent company of Batista's crumbling empire, were unsuccessful. A spokeswoman at OSX did not have an immediate comment on the report.

Bermuda's Supreme Court ruled for the liquidation of Brazilian private-equity firm Laep Investments Ltd, in response to a reuqest by an investment fund, according to a securities filing on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Laep, which is based in Bermuda but mostly operated from its offices in São Paulo, has been under strain in recent years after some of its main investments - including milk producer LBR Lácteos do Brasil SA and high-end luxury retailer Daslú - failed to produce the expected returns.