Americanas: Justice blocks payment to small supplier – 03/09/2023 – Market

The Justice of Rio de Janeiro complied with the request of the Safra bank and suspended the immediate payment by Americanas to small suppliers and labor creditors, the State Court of Justice said this Thursday (9).

Judge Leila Santos Lopes, from the 18th Chamber of Private Law of the Court of Justice of Rio de Janeiro, accepted the bank’s appeal and granted a request for suspensive effect of the decision that allowed the payments.

The injunction favorable to the payment had been granted on the 28th by Judge Paulo Assed Estefan, head of the 4th Corporate Court of the Judicial District of the Capital of Rio de Janeiro. The retailer had been authorized to settle labor debts (called ‘class 1’ in the judicial reorganization process) and with micro and small suppliers (‘class 4’) included in the judicial reorganization, whose sum reaches R$ 192.4 millions.

According to Americanas, class 1 concentrates debts with labor and equivalent sums, such as those of liberal professionals, and gathers a total of BRL 119.6 million, while in class 4 there are 650 creditors that add up to a total of BRL 72.8 millions.

Debts with labor funds, however, do not include the actions that are under discussion today in the Labor Court. According to a survey carried out by the Data Lawyer platform for the Sheet, there are at least 2,331 active lawsuits against Americanas in the Labor Court. The total value of the lawsuits is R$ 284.3 million.

Americanas filed for judicial recovery on January 19, with declared debts of R$43 billion. The biggest creditors are the banks, to which it owes nearly R$20 billion. With Safra alone, the debt amounts to R$ 2.5 billion.

Magistrate Leila Lopes justified the decision by the fact that until now Americanas has not presented a judicial recovery plan. “In this direction, proclaims the recovery law (…) it is up to the General Meeting of Creditors to deliberate on the ‘approval, rejection or modification of the judicial recovery plan presented by the debtor'”, she informed.

In addition, the judge highlighted the irreversibility of the measure. “There is also a risk of irreparable damage or damage that is difficult to repair, since the early and full payment of classes 1 and 4, in fact, constitutes an irreversible measure”.

In addition to Safra, Bradesco had filed a lawsuit against Americanas, asking that the payment of any creditor subject to judicial recovery be rejected before the approval of the plan. A Sheet found out that the company has until the 22nd to present its judicial recovery plan.

In a press release, Americanas said that it “respects the decision”, to which it gave “immediate compliance”.

“The company reaffirms its conviction in the reasonableness and correctness of its request for early payment of classes I and IV, formed mainly by labor creditors and by micro and small companies, as a way to minimize the socioeconomic impact resulting from its Judicial Recovery The company also informs that it is evaluating the appropriate legal measures”, he informed.

With Reuters