Who is Sergio Rial, the executive who opened up Americanas accounts

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Sergio Rial, 62, from Rio de Janeiro, is known among executives for making personal marketing his business card. According to corporate market sources heard by Sheetin an environment where vanities are very much touched on, he achieves a differential by delivering good results and adopting some “outlandish” attitudes.

The desire to attract attention in a different way appeared when he was president of Santander Brasil, a position he held between 2016 and 2022. Today, he is chairman of the bank’s board. In 2017, for example, Rial dived with sharks at AquaRio, a marine aquarium in Rio de Janeiro, sponsored by the bank.

Also in 2017, he slid down a rappelling rope towards the stage set up at Allianz Parque, in São Paulo, dressed in red, the color of Santander, at an annual meeting with bank employees, to the sound of “Missão Impossível”. That year, Santander celebrated the mark of R$ 10 billion in profit.

In interviews, Rial said that the figure of “showman” serves to motivate the team. Which works, most of the time. An executive with about ten years at Santander told the Sheet that he was the best president the bank has ever had and managed to raise the team’s morale to another level.

The charge, however, also exists: during most of the pandemic, bank executives and managers had to work in person.

In addition to swimming with sharks and rappelling down, Rial has already promoted meetings with the team in which he talked to a hologram of himself in the future, and dressed like a Formula 1 driver.

Rial holds a law degree from UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) and a specialization in economics from Universidade Gama Filho.

In 1984, he began his career in the financial world, joining the former ABN Amro (later bought by Santander). At the institution, he reached the position of director. After two decades at the Dutch bank, in 2002 he joined the extinct American investment bank Bear Stearns.

In 2004, leaving the financial market: Rial was hired by the food multinational Minnesota Cargill, where he stayed until 2012, reaching the position of executive vice president and director of finance.

At the end of 2012, another change within the food area: he became president of the Seara Foods division, a branch of Seara Alimentos. In 2014, he was once again called upon to head a giant in the food sector: Marfrig, where he held the presidency for one year.

He returned to the financial market through Santander. He was also at the head of the CNF (National Confederation of Financial Institutions), is a member of the board of Delta Airlines and vice-president of the board of BRF.

In August last year, when his name was announced as president of Americanas, the retailer gained R$ 2 billion in market value and its shares rose by around 20%.

Executive sent letter to employees: ‘Let’s prepare for a good fight’

The market was taken by surprise this Wednesday (11th), when he stated that he was leaving the company, with only ten days of work, for identifying “inconsistencies” in the company’s balance sheet in the amount of R$ 20 billion.

At 1:15 pm this Thursday, Americanas shares were worth BRL 1.50, which represents a drop of 87.5% compared to the BRL 12 at the close of the market the day before.

In a letter sent to employees, whom Rial called “Nação Americanas”, the executive comments that “there may be an important adjustment in the company’s equity structure”, due to “a series of inconsistent accounting entries”, which “not only concern to the year 2022, but several years past as well”.

Rial says that the company, however, “already shows clear signs of resuming sales”, with a 15% increase in same-store sales (those opened more than a year ago), when compared to January 2022.

The executive says he is leaving the company and that João Guerra, the group’s former HR and technology executive, is taking over as interim. Rial states that Guerra, “together with the company’s leadership on several fronts, will continue to focus on the day-to-day of the company and, with the help of all of you, the construction of our future”.

“I will continue supporting the other treadmill, focused on restructuring the company’s equity situation, supporting our reference shareholders, there as an advisor”, he said, referring to the trio of 3G billionaires – Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles and Carlos Alberto Sicupira , Americanas’ main shareholders.

According to him, the company’s cash is “solid”, of more than R$ 8 billion and the company will continue to pay suppliers and “all our obligations” on time.

“There will be no lack of those who want to curse, generating doubts about our future. It is true that the impact can be important”, he said, noting, however, that the group should remain focused “on building a great quarter in 23”, to guarantee the coming quarters.

“In retail, one day at a time,” he said. “Hands to work and let’s prepare for a good fight.”

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