Around 1,300 workers and small and medium-sized suppliers at Lojas Americanas will not be able to receive R$ 192.4 million in debt payments. Judge Leila Santos Lopes, from the Court of Justice of Rio de Janeiro (TJRJ), suspended the retailer’s proposal, in judicial recovery since January, to prepay commitments to these creditors.
The magistrate accepted the appeal of Banco Safra. The institution claims that Lojas Americanas can only pay debts after the approval of a judicial recovery plan, which is expected to occur only at the end of March. Last week, Bradesco bank had also requested the suspension of payment, but had the request denied by the Justice.
In the decision, the judge wrote that only the General Meeting of Creditors of Americanas can decide the order of payment of debts. “To date, there is no judicial recovery plan. In this direction, it proclaims the recovery law […] It is incumbent upon the General Meeting of Creditors to decide on the approval, rejection or modification of the judicial reorganization plan presented by the debtor”, he justified.
For Leila Santos Lopes, the payment of only a portion of the creditors could cause irreparable damage to the Americanas Group’s judicial recovery process itself. Thus, she suspended the payment until the decision on the merits of the appeal.
“Furthermore [do mesmo modo]there is also a risk of irreparable damage or damage that is difficult to repair, as early and full payment of classes 1 [trabalhadores] and 4 [pequenas e médias empresas], in fact, constitutes an irreversible measure. For all the above, I grant the request for suspensive effect to the appealed decision, until the judgment on the merits of this appeal”, added the magistrate.
Lojas Americanas appealed the decision. The company considered the arguments brought by Banco Safra to be “totally unreasonable and even distorted”. The group claims that the financial institution did not indicate how much loss it would have taken. According to the retailer, the advance payment to labor creditors and small suppliers would keep an entire production chain in operation.
Historic
In judicial recovery for more than a month, Lojas Americanas faces a crisis since the revelation of “accounting inconsistencies” of R$ 20 billion. Later, the group itself admitted that debts could reach R$ 43 billion.
Last Tuesday (7), Lojas Americanas proposed a contribution of BRL 10 billion to creditors by key shareholders: the trio of billionaires Marcel Telles, Beto Sicupira and Jorge Paulo Lemann. The parties, however, did not reach an agreement.
The contribution includes a financing of R$ 2 billion. Partners of 3G Capital, the trio had control of the group until 2021. Although they disposed of part of the shares, the billionaires remained the largest individual shareholders in the company.
