News Americas Now, SAO PAULO, Brazil, April 2, 2015 — Judge Daniel Carnio Costa, of the 1st Section of Bankruptcy and Judicial Recoveries of the Court of Justice of the State of Sao Paulo, accepted yesterday the petition for Judicial Recovery placed by nine companies of OAS Group.
According to Costa’s decision, Construtora OAS, OAS S.A., OAS Imoveis S.A., SPE Gestao e Exploracao de Arenas Multiuso, OAS Empreendimentos S.A., OAS Infraestrutura S.A., OAS Investments Ltd., OAS Investments GmbH and OAS Finance Ltd. have, from now on, 60 days to submit to the creditors and suppliers the Plan for Recovery of the debts contracted until March 31, 2015.
All debts contracted as of the month of April will be fully paid. Payments of salaries and benefits of more than 100 thousand direct or indirect employees will not be affected by the process of Judicial Recovery.
The office of Alvarez & Marsal Consultoria Empresarial do Brasil was appointed as the Court-Appointed Trustee. It is the Court-Appointed Trustee’s responsibility to inspect the operations of the companies under Judicial Recovery, verify the list of creditors, chair the General Creditors’ Meeting and, finally, inspect compliance with the Judicial Recovery Plan approved by the creditors. Alvarez & Marsal will have no administrative role in any of the companies of OAS Group.
The initiative to go into Judicial Recovery was the best path found by OAS Group to negotiate its debts with creditors and suppliers due to the intense credit restriction observed since the end of last year for the companies in the infrastructure sector due to investigations at Petrobras.
“With almost 40 years of existence, OAS is compelled to take measures which allow it to continue operating in a healthy debt renegotiation process, preserving thousands of direct and indirect jobs,” said Fabio Yonamine, chairman of OAS Investimentos.
According to Diego Barreto, director of Corporate Development of Construtora OAS, the Group “will take to the negotiation of this process contributions which are very different from the ones observed in other Judicial Recoveries. A company with resources to maintain its activities, valuable assets and a team of professional managers provides clients, creditors and suppliers with a much safer environment for negotiations.”
OAS will sell some of its assets in the process of Judicial Recovery to provide safety to the investors who will take no risk of having their business contested by the creditors of the Group. The disinvestment in assets is also caused by the decision to concentrate efforts on what is its main vocation, heavy construction.
The participation of OAS S.A. in Invepar, the participation in Enseada Shipyard, OAS Empreendimentos, OAS Soluções Ambientais, OAS Oleo e Gas and OAS Defesa will be offered for sale. Arena Fonte Nova and Arena das Dunas will also be traded.
Construtora OAS goes into Judicial Recovery for technical matters, as it is already the guarantor of the Group’s loans, rather than for lack of liquidity.
“Construtora OAS bets on a professional governance, a corporate remodeling, revision of its management processes, strengthening of the compliance and internal audit areas, besides tough guidelines for reducing risks in the business conduction. The aim is making the company leaner, more agile, more competitive, focused on productivity and costs,” said Yonamine.
