Businessman gives up on buying Itapemirim airline

Brazilian real estate entrepreneur Galeb Baufaker Júnior, from the Gbaufaker Group, gave up on buying Itapemirim’s airline, ITA Transportes Aéreos, after the court blocked the assets of Sidnei Piva de Jesus, from the Itapemirim Group, from all publicly traded companies. by him since 2016 and the accounts of his wife, Silvana dos Santos Silva. Baufaker Júnior says that his final decision will take place after the meeting of creditors, which is scheduled for next Tuesday (10).

The reason given in the process documentation points to legal uncertainties. The businessman from Brasilia said, however, that he can talk about the business again at another time.

Previously, Baufaker Junior said he would put up to R$400 million to reactivate the company, whose debt with creditors, customers and employees reaches R$180 million and which has its air operator certificate suspended by Anac (National Civil Aviation Agency).

The sale had been announced by the president of ITA, Adalberto Bogsan, in a statement to the company’s employees on April 13, and was being questioned in court by EXM Partners, which manages the judicial reorganization process of the Itapemirim Group.

According to EXM Partners, the transaction did not go through the judicial reorganization judge, which is contrary to the law. In the petition, the judicial administrator requested information about the sale values, including how much will be directed to Itapemirim and when, in addition to the presentation, in court, of a copy of ITA’s sales contract. The office that represents EXM Partners, Mandel Advocacia says that, so far, the requests have not been fulfilled.

The Itapemirim Group announced the suspension of ITA operations at the end of 2021, and took passengers by surprise at airports. An estimate by Procon-SP informs that the suspension caused damage to about 130 thousand passengers. The group has been in judicial recovery since 2016 and has tax debts estimated at almost R$2 billion​.

Earlier this year, ANAC prohibited ITA from selling air tickets again until the company demonstrates that it has complied with all corrective actions for those affected by the suspension of its activities, such as re-accommodation and full refund of the air ticket.

Last month, ANTT (National Land Transport Agency) announced the suspension of all bus lines of Viação Itapemirim “due to operational difficulties in the company’s passenger road transport”.

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