Americanas: Brazilian billionaires say they did not know about the billionaire gap

Brazilian billionaires Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles and Beto Sicupira spoke for the first time, on the night of Sunday 22nd, since a hecatomb befell over Americanas retailer.

Majority partners of the retailer, the three claim that they were never aware of and would never admit “any accounting maneuvers or dissimulations in the company”.

According to the document, they are committed “to working for the recovery of the company, as soon as possible, focused on guaranteeing a promising future”.

The public letter was released days after a crisis management office took over the Americanas case.

Founded in 1929, in Niterói, Americanas was bought in 1982 by Lemann, Telles and Sicupira, when the three were still part of Banco Garantia.

Currently, through the 3G holding, the businessmen control companies such as the largest brewery in the world, AB Inbev (owner of brands such as the American Budweiser), and the Burger King fast food chain.

BELOW, THE FULL PUBLIC NOTE ABOUT AMERICANAS

“On January 11, 2023, by means of a ‘material fact’, Americanas S.A. made public the existence of significant inconsistencies in its accounting.

Since then, always with transparency and immediacy, several efforts have been made to correctly deal with the challenges facing the company today.

We use that same clarity to clarify categorically and for the sake of the truth that:

1) We were never aware of and would never admit any accounting maneuvers or dissimulations in the company.

Our performance has always been guided, over decades, by ethical and legal rigor.

This was decisive for the position we reached in a lifetime dedicated to entrepreneurship, creating jobs, building businesses and contributing to the development of the country.

2) Americanas is a century-old company and over the last 20 years it has been managed by executives considered to be qualified and of unblemished reputation.

3) We had one of the largest and most respected independent auditing firms in the world, PwC.

PwC, in turn, made regular use of circularization letters, used to confirm Americanas’ accounting information with external sources, including the banks that operated with the company.

Neither these financial institutions nor PwC ever reported any wrongdoing.

4) Therefore, like all other shareholders, creditors, customers and employees of the company, we firmly believed that everything was absolutely right.

5) The company’s independent committee will have all the conditions to investigate the facts that resulted in the accounting inconsistencies, as well as to evaluate the eventual break of symmetry in the dialogue between the auditors and the financial institutions.

6) We once again express our commitment to full transparency and total collaboration in everything within our power to clarify all the facts and circumstances.

7) We deeply regret the losses suffered by investors and creditors, remembering that, as shareholders, we were affected by losses.

8) We reaffirm our commitment to work for the recovery of the company, as soon as possible, focused on guaranteeing a promising future for the company, its thousands of employees, partners and investors, and on reaching a good understanding with creditors.”

With information from Revista Oeste