Ambipar Participações e Empreendimentos S.A

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What it is

Ambipar operates through two main divisions: Ambipar Environment and Ambipar Response. Environment takes industrial waste — plastics, solvents, chemicals — and either recycles it or converts it into energy, charging clients for the service; Response is a 24-hour emergency corps that races to chemical spills, oil leaks, and industrial accidents wherever they occur.

Ambipar Response specialises in crisis management and support for emergencies that affect health, the environment, and assets, with bases across the Americas, Europe and Africa running around the clock. The group operates in more than 40 countries.

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Who owns it

The company was founded in 1995 by Tércio Borlenghi Junior, who remains chair of the board. As of May 2026, Borlenghi directly controls 43.85% of shares, with a further 7.69% held through Everest Fundo de Investimento em Participações (also a controlling vehicle), giving the founder’s bloc a combined 51.5%; the remaining 48.4% is in public hands.

As the debt crisis deepened, lenders including Bradesco, Genial Investimentos and Grupo Opportunity sold shares they held as collateral on loans to Borlenghi, reducing his personal stake from 73% toward the current level. The structured data confirms insiders as a group hold roughly 43.9% of shares, with institutional investors at about 22.4%.

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Who runs it

Tércio Borlenghi Jr. is CEO of the group; Guilherme Patini Borlenghi — a family member with thirteen years at the company — is COO.

The appointment was made official in a filing to the CVM in 2023, consolidating family control at the operating level as well as at the ownership level.

João Daniel Piran de Arruda was appointed CFO of the parent in August 2024, bringing more than two decades of financial-market experience including nearly 15 years at Bank of America. His predecessor, ex-CFO João Arruda, has since contested in court the circumstances of a derivatives contract with Deutsche Bank that is at the centre of the debt crisis.

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The money, in plain words

Revenue has grown fast — R$3.79 bn (US$733 mn) in 2022 to R$6.41 bn (US$1.2 bn) (~$1.24 bn) in 2024, a 31.6% rise in one year alone (our calculation) — but the company has been losing money at the bottom line for two consecutive years: a net loss of R$288 mn (US$56 mn) (~$55.7 mn) in 2024 against R$57 mn (US$11 mn) the year before. The net loss margin of –4.5% (our calculation) means that after paying interest on its debts, the company consumes more cash than it earns.

The core reason is the debt pile: roughly R$10 bn (US$1.9 bn) ($1.82 bn) in total borrowings, accumulated through an aggressive wave of acquisitions. Net debt — what the company owes after subtracting its cash — stands at R$7.73 bn (US$1.5 bn) (~$1.50 bn) (our calculation), against a market value of just R$284 mn (US$55 mn) (~$54.9 mn): the market values the equity at less than four cents for every real of net debt, a sign of deep distress.

Ambipar completed acquisitions totalling approximately R$3.0 bn (US$581 mn) over three years to build its scale.

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What it is doing now

Ambipar sought emergency court protection against creditors in Rio de Janeiro, citing risk of cross-default on its approximately R$10 bn (US$1.9 bn) debt load, and has since filed for court-supervised debt restructuring (recuperação judicial). Its shares have fallen more than 90% since late September 2025.

Full-year 2024 operating cash flow was a record R$1.17 bn (US$226 mn), up 62.5% on 2023, and the company reduced its leverage ratio to 2.47x — proof that the underlying business generates real cash, even as the financing structure around it fractures. On the operational side, Ambipar signed a memorandum of understanding to become Dow’s largest plastics-recycling partner in Brazil.

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What to watch

• Restructuring outcome. Whether creditors accept the recuperação judicial plan will determine whether the equity has any value at all; the company received a notice from B3 regarding non-compliance with listing requirements.
• Operating cash vs. interest costs. The business generated strong operating cash in 2024; if restructuring cuts the debt burden, those cash flows could resurface as profit. If not, they simply service the lenders.
• Founder stake and collateral sales. Borlenghi has said he intends to pursue legal action to reverse forced share sales by lenders; the outcome affects control of the company.
• Regulatory scrutiny. The CVM has flagged the company for transparency shortfalls; any further enforcement action would complicate the restructuring.

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This is news, not investment advice.