Americanas revises list of creditors and debt increases from R$41 billion to R$42.5 billion

Americanas revised its list of creditors, which further increased the retailer’s debt, from R$41 billion to almost R$42.5 billion. And a good part of this increase concerns debts with large banks.

The most affected is Bradesco, which in the first list, presented in January, had a debt of approximately R$ 4.8 billion. In the revision, the value increased to R$ 5.1 billion. The debt with Banco do Brasil also increased, from R$ 1.3 billion to R$ 1.6 billion.

Amounts owed to other banks remained unchanged. There are R$3.6 billion for Santander Brasil, R$3.5 billion for BTG Pactual, R$2.7 billion for Itaú Unibanco, R$2.5 billion for Safra, and R$500 million for Federal Savings Bank.

Of the debt listed in Americanas’ judicial reorganization, R$ 42.3 billion is for Class III creditors, called unsecured creditors, who do not have real guarantees provided by the company. In this group are banks and suppliers.

Banco Votorantim, which appears on the list of creditors, has a different situation compared to its peers. According to a source close to the institution, BV has a calm position, since Americanas’ debts add up to just over R$ 200 million, but the retailer’s financial investments in the bank exceed R$ 400 million.

In the first list, BV appeared as a creditor of BRL 3.2 billion. However, these values ​​were reallocated, since the R$ 3 billion more correspond to bonds issued by Americanas that had financial intermediation from BV, and not to the company’s debts with the bank, says the source. Most of these securities were transferred to investment funds, which are the true creditors.

Class I debts, which involve labor disputes, amount to almost R$120 million, and Class IV debts, with micro and small companies, total just over R$70 million.

With the judicial recovery process, Americanas had to pay its Easter egg suppliers in cash, a practice very different from the one adopted before the outbreak of the crisis. According to some commercial partners, Americanas historically asked for long terms to pay for purchases, and it was very common for these payments to be late.

Last week, in balance of the 30 days of the crisis, Americanas stated that it operates normally, with full shelves.

Company contests Santander’s request in court

In addition to the judicial recovery, Americanas has been fighting parallel legal battles, mainly with the banks. The most recent is with Santander, which requested the seizure of emails members of the retailer’s administrative bodies over the past 10 years.

The Justice of São Paulo granted an urgent guardianship to Santander, allowing access to messages from individuals who occupied the Board of Directors and Audit Committee, in addition to the Audit Committee and the Financial and Investor Relations directorate. But the search was called off in early February.

The challenge made by Americanas concerns a broader list presented by Santander, which even includes the company’s reference shareholders.

Americanas says that it does not consent “to the expansion of the objective limits of this demand”, says the petition formulated by the company’s lawyers.

Another point raised by Americanas is that Santander seeks to expand the request to personal e-mail addresses of people connected to the company. The petition recalls that the guardianship only allows access to institutional addresses.

“Nevertheless, in its unrestrained rage to use this demand as a true tool capable of dragging out as many message exchanges as possible, including those of a private nature, Banco Santander goes so far as to request that messages related to email addresses be investigated. personal emails of the members of the Boards of Directors and Fiscal Council of Americanas, who do not have institutional email addresses”, sustains Americanas.

The retailer asks for the correction of the list presented by Santander, and says that it reserves a period of five days to present the names of executives and former executives who held the positions included in the request for guardianship of Santander.