Americanas: Planalto investigates 3G performance at Eletrobras – 06/28/2023 – Panel SA

An informal working group linked to the Planalto Palace is investigating the actions of 3G Capital, created by the trio of billionaires from Americanas, to demonstrate what they call the “takeover” of Eletrobras. It also digs through skeletons supposedly left over from the privatization process.

Under the supervision of an important adviser to President Lula, the group has three members and wants to show the STF the existence of an alleged orchestrated 3G action, which, through its own executives or partners in invested companies, would have infiltrated Eletrobras to take command, even though they have a minority stake.

The fund, which had billionaires Jorge Paulo Lemann, Beto Sicupira and Marcel Telles until last year, is a minority shareholder in Eletrobras, with a 1.3% stake.

Even so, according to members of the palace group heard on anonymity, he organized the formation of the board of directors and even influenced the choice of executive directors.

The government owns almost 40% of the company’s shares and votes with 10% of them in the assemblies – which it considers to be unconstitutional and, therefore, went to the STF in search of the reversal of this model.

The group claims to have already found a relationship between the current representatives of the board of directors of Eletrobras and 3G —today at the epicenter of the Americanas crisis, in judicial recovery with a debt of R$ 43 billion after the revelation of accounting inconsistencies.

One of the most active advisors, Pedro Batista, founder of Vinci Partners, is a partner at 3G Radar (manager) and 3G Capital.

Another director, Felipe Dias, was a partner at Squadra Investimentos, one of the main shareholders of Equatorial Energia. Vinci Partners and 3G itself also joined Equatorial as partners.

Elvira Presta, currently vice-president of financial and investor relations at Eletrobras, has already worked for 3G, according to reports.

The list of directors of Vibra (ex-BR) with 3G is also examined. The current president of Eletrobras, Wilson Ferreira Junior, presided over the fuel distributor.

When consulted, he did not respond until the publication of this report.

The advice of Jorge Paulo Lemann, Beto Sicupira and Marcel Telles informed that the investors have no involvement with Eletrobras. Their departure from 3G Capital even took place prior to the privatization of Eletrobras, in June 2022.

The column could not contact the 3G.

skeletons

On another front, potential problems were raised that could entail expenses for Eletrobras and that were not, according to the group, duly accounted for at the time of capitalization, which led the Union to lose control.

One of them is compulsory loans. They were carried out in the 1960s with large consumers to enable the expansion of the state-owned company. They lasted until 1993 and the legislation defined that, in 2013, creditors should receive the corrected amounts in company shares.

Several creditors went to court and today the company is negotiating on a case-by-case basis. Offers discounts ranging from 20% to 40% in value and negotiations are protected by court secrecy.

In all, Eletrobras has provisioned R$26 billion in its balance sheet for the settlement of accounts and may increase this amount by another R$5.3 billion in the face of possible losses in ongoing lawsuits. This liability, in total, is R$ 78 billion. The company is worth R$90.5 billion.

Of this total, the company considers that R$ 46.4 billion will not have to be paid. Of this total, at least R$ 25 billion involve credits from collections carried out between 1964 and 1976 and which were paid, according to the company, with bearer bonds. As such, they are not tradable on the Exchange and do not have defined prices.

The company claims that a decision by the STJ confirmed that these bonds are not enforceable.
It also removes the risk of having to pay another BRL 14 billion related to the application of interest rates of 6% per year on the alleged credits.

Another point on the table is the privatization of Amazonas Energia, one of the former subsidiaries of Eletrobras.

The members of the group claim that there was a shortfall of BRL 3 billion in the transaction arising from a legal dispute.

They want to use these cases to show the STF that the Union needs to maintain its decision-making power in the council to avoid bearing future losses as it is the largest shareholder in Eletrobras.

With Diego Felix

PRESENT LINK: Did you like this text? Subscriber can release five free hits of any link per day. Just click the blue F below.