Even after approval of the recovery plan, Oi is subject to legal disputes The operator took a year and six months to reach an agreement with its creditors, but it is far from having remedied the problems with its major shareholders Jessica Sant'Ana [19/02/2018] [7:01] http://www.gazetadopovo.com.br/economia/...-06teznwnn8hq8tmv7wkxn6d8p
Despite a year and six months of negotiation and nearly 15 hours of assembly to succeed in approving its recovery plan, Oi remains embroiled in a judicial imbroglio. The company's shareholders will have reduced participation and, in order to avoid this, are entering various actions to modify the approved proposal and to dismiss the current board of directors. The court has, until then, rejected the shareholders' requests, but as the dispute continues, Oi is still experiencing a period of instability and should be focused on cleaning the house and investing again to recover the lost space from when it entered crisis.
Nunca foi tão importante estar bem informado. Sua assinatura financia o bom jornalismo. EXPERIMENTE POR R$ 0,99 NO 1º MÊS Oi was able to approve its judicial recovery plan at dawn on December 20, after a year and six months of dispute between shareholders, creditors and the government. The lawsuit involved a presidential exchange - left Marco Schroeder and Eurico Teles - and a court decision to keep shareholders out of the negotiation to give full power to the board of trustees led by Teles to define the terms of the agreement with creditors. It was the biggest recovery request ever recorded in the country's history, after the company accumulated debts of R $ 64 billion with about 55 thousand creditors.
LEARN MORE: How Oi went into crisis?
The recovery plan approved in December and ratified on January 8 will take about a year to be fully completed. It provides, among other things, for a substantial debt reduction of some R $ 38.5 billion, in exchange for up to 75% of the company's capital for creditors, resulting in a dilution of the a quarter of the current size. The proposal also establishes a capital increase of R $ 4 billion until February 2019, raising R $ 2.5 billion in the financial market and reinvesting of any asset that will be sold within five years. A transitional board of directors will be formed in April and the current board will be in place until the beginning of next year, when Oi, already as a new team of shareholders (the former creditors) will define its new administrative structure.
Judicial war But even after it has been approved and approved, major shareholders continue to contest the validity of the recovery plan in court. They claim that the plan presents "inconsistencies," not ensuring long-term business continuity. In addition, they say that they were harmed because they could not participate in the construction of the proposal and say that the current board, which is responsible for the final terms of the plan, has committed illicit acts in the management of the operator. Oi denies the information and there is no judicial decision in favor of the shareholders.
The Portuguese shareholders of Pharol, which hold 22.24% of the shares and are Oi's main individual shareholder, are leading the judicial war against Oi, supported by other shareholders, including Nelson Tanure , owner of the Société Mondiale fund and Pharol. The Portuguese have filed applications to suspend the plan in court, the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM), the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) and the Arbitration Chamber of the Brazilian Stock Exchange. The Association of Minority Investors (Aidmin) filed a lawsuit with the US Justice Department and the Public Prosecution Service also filed suit, challenging the terms of the settlement agreement with Anatel and requesting the validation of the plan in a new meeting, with the presence of shareholders. Until then, the court has denied the requests.
The most tense moment came earlier this month, when the Pharol fund convened a general meeting of shareholders and, at that meeting, they dismissed Eurico Teles and Carlos Augusto Brandão from the posts of president and chief financial officer respectively. Oi did not recognize the legality of the meeting and, the next day, the Court ruled that the meeting was illegal and that its decisions have no effect, maintaining the board and the terms of the agreement approved in the meeting with the creditors.
There is also an imbroglio with Anatel. The plan predicts that R $ 8.3 billion of administrative debt will be paid in 240 times and that the other R $ 6.1 billion will be 20 years grace period. Anatel voted against the proposal and said that the model for repaying debts with the agency is illegal and will cause damage to the treasury. The agency has already stated that it will appeal to the last instances. But she agreed with the other terms of the agreement and advocates implementing the plan.
Hi, I already lost almost 10 million customers As this novel drags on, Oi continues to try to put into practice its judicial recovery plan. The implementation is essential for the operator to re-invest at least R $ 7 billion per year, as promised, and try to recover its lost space. Oi had been investing around R $ 4 billion per year, lower than the market average and used only to maintain the network. Anatel says it takes R $ 8 billion a year for Oi to be able to upgrade its network.
The operator has already lost 9.92 million customers since it went into judicial reorganization in June 2016, until December 2017 in the fixed, mobile and broadband segments. In the area of pay-TV alone, it achieved a positive balance of 299 thousand customers in the period. It is the operator that lost the most customers in mobile telephony, an area considered essential for the future of the teles. |