The CVM (Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission) opened this Monday (20) an administrative process to investigate the disclosure of news about Petrobras, which confirmed the resignation of its president, José Mauro Coelho.
The process was opened by the supervisor responsible for analyzing the disclosure of announcements, news or material facts by companies with shares traded on the Stock Exchange. The CVM does not comment on the content of the proceedings.
News about Coelho’s decision began to circulate on Sunday (19). The official statement was released by Petrobras shortly before 10 am, leading to the suspension of negotiations with the state-owned shares on the São Paulo Stock Exchange.
The temporary withdrawal of a stock from the trading session is adopted whenever there is any disclosure or market movement capable of causing potentially harmful fluctuations to the operation. After the resignation, the shares had a strong fluctuation on the stock exchange.
At 12:28 pm, Petrobras’ common shares (PETR3) rose 0.40% to R$30.04. Preferred papers (PETR4) gained 0.37%, quoted at R$27.42. In the interval between suspensions, around 11 am, both dropped more than 4%.
Over the weekend, President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and allies made a series of statements with the potential to impact the company’s shares. Bolsonaro even said that the company would lose R$30 billion in market value this Monday.
The investigation opened on Monday is the fifth related to the disclosure of information by the state-owned company this year alone.
The CVM decided to open an investigation into the disclosure of the exchange in charge of Petrobras. The process will assess whether the communication to the market followed the rules established for publicly-held companies.
In March, the troubled change in command of Petrobras was also the subject of investigations by the CVM. The first information about the resignation of General Joaquim Silva e Luna came out in the middle of the afternoon of the 20th, but the state company only sent a statement to the CVM after 8 pm.
A similar process was opened in May 2021 after the resignation of the former president of the state-owned company, Roberto Castello Branco, announced by Bolsonaro live on Facebook and only confirmed by Petrobras the following day.
The statements led the company to lose BRL 102.5 billion in market value in just one day, with investors fearing intervention in the company’s management and in its fuel pricing policy.
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