Biscoitos Globo has a fight over the value of the founder’s inheritance – 06/26/2023 – Market

Biscoito Globo, a popular delicacy on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, is at the center of a legal dispute between the partners and heirs of Panificadora Mandarino —which has been producing starches since the 1950s— and the widow and daughter of one of the founders, João Ponce, who died in 2015.

The process began in 2017, when Roberta Ponce, João’s widow, asked, amidst her husband’s inventory, to determine the market value of the factory, the brand and its assets.

On Wednesday (21), Judge Diego Isaac Nigri, of the 2nd Family Court of the Regional District of Barra da Tiuca, determined the attachment of half of the value of the court expert’s fees for the bakery’s accounts, as the company would not have, according to decision, having made the deposit of the part that belonged to him in the payment.

For João’s heirs, the remaining partners presented an “unreal balance” in the attribution of quotas to which each one would be entitled. When the process was started, says lawyer Mariana Zonenschein, who represents Roberta and her daughter, the 25% of the company that would fit them was calculated at R$ 90,000.

“The biscuit has become an icon. The balance sheet does not even mention the brand, which has been licensed for use in other products for many years. Even the biscuit, previously only found on the beach, can now be purchased in supermarkets”, says the lawyer.

Panificadora Mandarino says, through its lawyer, that it does not comment on ongoing processes. João Borsoi Neto, who represents the company, says that the partners are waiting and will respect what was decided by the Justice.

“There is a procedure to determine the amount owed to João Ponce’s estate for his participation in the company. Nothing is being disputed in court,” said Borsoi.

With the expertise, the widow and daughter of João Ponce hope that the process will move more quickly. Since the presentation of the action, called “assessment of assets”, the judge responsible for the case has already changed several times and other investigations were determined, but were not carried out.

Last week, the defense of the Biscoito Globo factory appealed to the Court of Justice of Rio de Janeiro, where it defended that the obligation with the costs of this expertise should be only of the applicants.

The grievance was denied on Friday (23), when judges of the 6th Chamber of Private Law of the TJ-RJ considered that “the evidence in question will serve the realization of the right”, with the “verification of the true occurrence of the facts discussed, the that interests everyone to achieve social pacification.”

Since the beginning of the process, the company has been obliged to deposit, in court, the amount equivalent to 25% of the monthly profits to João Ponce’s widow. According to lawyer Mariana Zonenschein, Roberta’s share in this division has been R$ 3,000 per month, an amount that the heiresses also consider very low. The financial situation of Ponce’s widow, says the lawyer, is bad.

The expectation is that the expert finds out how much profit the factory makes monthly, how much the brand is worth in the market and what its assets are.

Having become a symbol of Rio’s beaches, Biscoito Globo is sold by street vendors –”Ó o Globo!” Jaime and João started to make and sell the cookies produced by a cousin.

The trip to Rio de Janeiro would initially be temporary, but given the success of sales, it ended up becoming permanent. The name Globo was borrowed from the bakery where the first batches were baked in Rio de Janeiro.

In 2020, during the pandemic, the Globo factory closed its doors for the first time since its foundation. At the time, the company reported that in addition to the beaches, it also supplied cookies to 200 stores and 300 school canteens.

The daily production volume was between 5,000 and 7,000 bags of biscuits, in both sweet and savory versions. On the beaches, manioc starch is sold in paper packages; in the markets, plastic.