Construtora OAS, the Brazilian firm involved in construction of the Point Fortin highway, is among companies in the OAS Group granted judicial recovery to negotiate debts incurred due to credit restrictions imposed as a result of investigations into the Petrobras scandal.
Judge Daniel Carnio Costa of the First Section of Bankruptcy and Judicial Recoveries of the Court of Justice of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil. accepted the petition for judicial recovery placed by nine companies of OAS Group–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.
They have been given 60 days to submit to creditors and suppliers a plan for recovery of debts contracted until March 31. All debts contracted as of April will be fully paid. Payments of salaries and benefits of more than 100,000 direct or indirect employees will not be affected by the process of judicial recovery.
Alvarez & Marsal Consultoria Empresarial do Brasil is the court-appointed trustee that will inspect the operations of the companies, verify the list of creditors and inspect compliance with the judicial recovery plan.
"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.
Diego Barreto, director of Corporate Development of Construtora OAS, said 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 i to provide safety to 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.
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 remodelling, 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.
Late last year, Brazil's Supreme Court approved the investigation of dozens of politicians for their alleged involvement in a kickback scheme at the state-run oil firm Petrobras. Prosecutors have charged executives from six of the country's largest construction firms for allegedly channelling kickbacks into a Petrobras scheme to pay politicians.
