Justice accept petition for judicial reorganization of Americanas, one of the largest retail chains in LatAm

The Justice Department of Rio de Janeiro accepted this Thursday afternoon, Jan. 19, the request for the judicial reorganization of the retail giant Americanas.

Judge Paulo Assed Estefan, from the 4th Business Court in Rio, gave the company 48 hours to present the complete list of creditors and the debt details.

Americanas has declared debts of R$43 (US$8.2) billion, with 16,300 creditors.

By the third quarter of 2022, the date of the most recent financial statement, the company reported gross debt of R$19.3 billion.

This statement occurred before the revelation of the fiscal hole.

From now on, debts cannot be enforced within 180 days. The retailer must present to the judge, within two months, a recovery proposal that the creditors must approve.

At the beginning of the week, Americanas discovered a R$ 43 billion hole. This involves creditors and suppliers. BTG was the only creditor that got a victory in court in the form of an injunction.

The request is the fourth largest case ever registered in the country, second only to the judicial recoveries of Odebrecht (R$ 80 billion), Oi (R$ 65 billion), and Samarco (R$ 65 billion).

Known in the market, Americanas is one of the largest retail chains in Latin America.

It is controlled by the trio Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles, and Beto Sicupira. Investigations are underway to determine if there was fraud in the company’s accounts.