Petrobras analyzes Paes de Andrade’s resume, but still doesn’t know if government will renew board

Petrobras received this week the documents for analysis of the nomination of Caio Paes de Andrade to the presidency of the company, but the government has not yet presented the other seven nominations for the company’s board of directors to which he is entitled.

The appointments are considered essential by the current board to convene a shareholders’ meeting that will evaluate the name of Paes de Andrade, which leads advisers to believe that the government is looking for an alternative solution to speed up the appointment.

This solution could involve the resignation of one of the current members of the board to be replaced by Paes de Andrade. Thus, his appointment would depend only on a collegiate meeting, and no longer on a shareholders’ meeting.

The dismissed president of Petrobras, José Mauro Coelho, has already warned that he will not resign. The government now has another five seats on the council, as it lost two seats to minority shareholders in the assembly that elected Coelho in April.

They are: the president of the collegiate, Márcio Weber, Luiz Henrique Caroli, Murilo Marroquim, Ruy Flacks Schneider and Sonia Villalobos.

Counselors heard by the report assess that there is no legal impediment to the maneuver to accelerate the appointment, which should not face great resistance from minority shareholders to reduce the climate of uncertainty about the company’s command.

The analysis of Paes de Andrade by the State-owned People’s Committee has not yet been concluded. There is, among shareholders, the perception that its curriculum does not meet the requirements established by the State-Owned Companies Law, which were also incorporated by the company’s bylaws.

The law requires ten years’ experience in the same area of ​​activity as the company or in a related area; or four years at the head of a company of equivalent size, a position on a commission or trust in the public sector; or position of professor or researcher in areas of activity of the state-owned company to which he was appointed.

It also allows appointment and nominees with four years of experience as a liberal professional in activity directly or indirectly linked to the area of ​​operation of the public company or mixed capital company.

Paes de Andrade built his career in technology companies, first PSINet Brazil and then Webforce Investimentos, of which he is a partner and which, according to Petrobras, has supported more than 30 startups. The state-owned company also says that he is “an entrepreneur in information technology, real estate and agribusiness”.

Paes de Andrade’s documents were sent to Petrobras on Tuesday (31) and there is no set deadline for their analysis.

Known as “background integrity check”, this process includes not only the evaluation of the curriculum, it also investigates if the candidates are targets of lawsuits, have debts or have acted in political parties, for example.

Candidates are given a period to clarify any doubts or demonstrate diligence to answer notes on previous activities carried out by internal or external control bodies.

In previous elections, Petrobras understood that the committee only has a consultative role, that is, its opinion has no power to reject a candidate, which is the role of shareholders. With a majority of voting shares, the government has the final say.