Minorities want to postpone meeting that will define Petrobras president

Minority shareholders of Petrobras want to postpone the election for representatives of the board of the state-owned company, scheduled for the 13th, given the difficulties of the government to find names to command the collegiate and the company itself.

The government is still trying to find replacements for candidates for president of the council, Rodolfo Landim, and president of Petrobras, Adriano Pires, but the assessment among investors is that the confusion could harm the election.

Landim and Pires announced their withdrawal on Sunday (3) and Monday (4), respectively. Appointed by President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) with support from the center, the two faced resistance from the state-owned governance area.

The voting ballots for the names of the council have already been distributed with both names and, in the evaluation of some funds, the exchange could generate problems or even the judicialization of the assembly, as it could influence the final result.

The request for postponement, however, is not unanimous: there are minority groups that believe it is possible to carry out the vote, claiming that there are other important issues on the agenda, such as the approval of the 2021 financial statements.

“The postponement of the AGO [assembleia geral ordinária] does not serve the best interests of Petrobras”, says lawyer Leonardo Antonelli, who represents funds with equity interest in the state-owned company and has been on the company’s board of directors.

“Voting abroad has already begun and statistics show that the vast majority of foreigners vote for candidates nominated by minority shareholders. The names of the nominees have already been deposited (on the remote ballot) and voted on.”

The government, he says, can nominate and vote for new names at the meeting itself and, as the majority shareholder, it has enough votes to elect its representatives, even without counting the votes already deposited by funds.

One of the solutions, according to sources, would be to postpone only the election for the council, keeping the vote on the other items on the agenda. In that case, the current administration could remain in office until a new meeting is held.

This alternative, however, could also create a risk of judicialization of the result. Therefore, there are funds that argue that the interruption of the process can be more traumatic than its maintenance.

This is the second time that the government’s list of nominations has been changed. The first version was named after General Joaquim Silva e Luna, who was eventually fired by Bolsonaro after the mega-increases in gasoline and diesel prices just under a month ago.

The second version already had the names of Landim and Pires, the latter indicated to replace Silva and Luna in the company’s presidency. This Monday, however, Pires formalized his withdrawal, claiming that he would not have time to leave the company of his consultancy.

He is the founder of CBIE (Brazilian Infrastructure Center), which provides services to Petrobras’ customers and competitors. His son is also a partner at the consultancy and would also have to leave to meet the company’s governance requirements.

At Petrobras, there is still no decision on postponing the meeting or the election to the board. There are rumors, however, that the government itself may ask that the shareholders’ meeting be postponed, given the difficulty of finding names to replace Landim and Pires.

The 2021 assembly was also marked by controversies regarding voting ballots. Minorities even asked for the meeting to be suspended, alleging that the vote count was wrong. At first, Petrobras denied it, but later gave in and held a new vote.