Fertilizantes Heringer S.A

What it is

Fertilizantes Heringer was founded in 1968 by agronomist Dalton Dias Heringer as a sole proprietorship in Manhuaçu, Minas Gerais — originally supplying fertilizer to coffee growers — and has grown into one of Brazil’s largest blenders and distributors of crop nutrients.

With 14 storage, blending, and distribution units across the southeast, midwest, south, and northeast of Brazil, Heringer is the country’s fourth-largest fertilizer distributor by installed capacity, at more than four million tonnes per year. It offers basic fertilizers, NPK formulas, and specialty products, and also provides soil analysis programmes and technical guidance to farmers.

Who owns it

In March 2022, EuroChem Group — a Swiss-headquartered, Russian-origin fertilizer producer — completed the purchase of a 51.48% controlling stake in Heringer, in a deal valued at roughly R$555m (about US$116m at the time). Insiders — EuroChem’s local subsidiary, Eurochem Comércio de Produtos Químicos Ltda, combined with remaining Heringer family shareholders — collectively hold about 90% of the shares, leaving a free float of roughly 10%.

EuroChem’s founder Andrey Melnichenko had beneficially held 90% of EuroChem Group AG until March 2022, when he resigned from its board on the same day he was placed on an EU sanctions list, after which he held 0% of its shares.

Who runs it

On 9 April 2026, Gustavo Oubinha Barreiro resigned as CEO, and the board elected Daniil Bazdyrev as the new chief executive. Bazdyrev holds a postgraduate degree in financial management and brings more than 15 years of experience in oil and gas, petrochemicals, and logistics across Europe and Brazil.

Bazdyrev is the fifth person to hold the CEO chair in under a year: the churn began in July 2025 when long-serving CEO Gustavo Horbach was replaced by Rodrigo Horta, who lasted 51 days before Sérgio Longhi Castanheiro took over in August, himself lasting six months before yielding to Oubinha in February 2026. The CFO is Vladislav Guz, who previously served as CFO of Rosneft’s Iraqi subsidiary and held roles at Rosneft Brasil from 2018 to 2020.

The money, in plain words

Revenue has fallen for three straight years — from R$5.34bn (US$1.04bn) in 2023 to R$4.09bn (US$795m) in 2025, a drop of 23% (our calculation). For every real of sales, the company has been losing about 6 cents — a net profit margin of –5.85% on the trailing twelve months — and in the worst year, 2024, the net loss hit R$1.15bn (US$223m).

The balance sheet is the most pressing concern: total liabilities of R$3.47bn (US$673m) exceed total assets of R$2.15bn (US$417m), leaving book equity at negative R$1.32bn (US$256m) (our calculation) — meaning, on paper, the company owes more than it owns. Recently, Heringer borrowed approximately US$19.5m (around R$100m (US$19 mn)) from its parent EuroChem to refinance existing debt and fund operating activities.

What it is doing now

In 2025, the net loss narrowed sharply to R$172m (US$33 mn) from R$1.15bn (US$223 mn) in 2024 — an 85% improvement — but net revenue also fell 11% to R$4bn (US$777 mn), so cost cuts, not a sales recovery, drove the better result. The company has also been shrinking its physical footprint: Heringer announced the hibernation of its Paulínia I and Paulínia II plants in São Paulo state.

Bazdyrev arrives alongside CFO Guz with a mandate focused explicitly on financial discipline — the communications around his appointment stress balance-sheet repair over growth.

What to watch

• Solvency, not growth. Negative book equity means Heringer depends on EuroChem’s continued financial support; any shift in the parent’s willingness or ability to lend is the single biggest risk.
• Leadership stability. Five CEOs in one year signals deep operational stress; whether Bazdyrev lasts long enough to execute a real restructuring is a concrete test to watch each quarter.
• Volume recovery. In the first half of 2025, deliveries fell 22% to 632,000 tonnes — a reversal in fertilizer volumes sold is the clearest early signal of a genuine business turn.
• EuroChem’s own situation. EuroChem, while now controlled and headquartered in Switzerland, is of Russian origin — geopolitical or sanctions-related disruptions at the parent level would flow directly to Heringer.

This is news, not investment advice.