A deal between Americanas SA and bank creditors to overhaul the Brazilian retailer’s debt could be reached as soon as today, according to a person close to the matter.
An agreement is a key step toward eventually exiting bankruptcy protection. Lenders have found common ground with the embattled company on details of the text to overhaul the debt, including a specific clause that banks should drop litigation rights, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential negotiations.
Americanas declined to comment.
Some 11 months after it sank into a crisis due to an accounting fraud that more than doubled its debt to 42.5 billion reais ($8.7 billion), an agreement would allow the company to present a new plan in court and should be approved in a creditor meeting slated for Dec. 19. Banks have the majority of the debt, so their support is crucial.
As part of the plan, the company’s top shareholders — the billionaire trio of Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles and Carlos Sicupira — would inject some 12 billion reais and banks would convert some debt into equity. New bonds would be issued to swap out older notes at a discount and suppliers would also be paid.
Its main creditors include Banco Bradesco SA, which holds 4.8 billion reais of debt, Banco Santander SA’s Brazil unit with 3.7 billion reais and Banco BTG Pactual SA with 3.5 billion reais.
All told, Americanas Chief Financial Officer Camille Loyo Faria expects the company to be recapitalized with 24 billion reais in 2024. She said in an earnings call last week that a deal with banks could be reached in December.
The progress in talks comes after the retailer published new earnings reports for 2021 and 2022 that showed it lost nearly 20 billion reais in the period in which the estimated size of the accounting fraud was 25 billion reais.
Banco Safra SA issued a statement this week saying Americanas should have presented more financial data and a new list of creditors before calling the meeting at year-end. It didn’t say whether it will support the deal under discussion.
O Globo columnist Lauro Jardim reported earlier Friday that a deal could be signed as early as today.