BNDES gave up BRL 20 billion from Petrobras by selling shares – 06/23/2023 – Panel

The BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development) has stopped receiving BRL 20.45 billion in dividends from Petrobras since it sold its common shares and part of its preferred shares of Petrobras in 2020.

This is what a survey by the Petroleum Social Observatory (OSP) points out, linked to oil workers’ unions and which monitors Petrobras’ policies and actions.

In 2020, the BNDES traded more than 760,000 Petrobras shares, the biggest share sale in Brazil since the oil company’s US$70 billion offer in 2010, and received R$22.46 billion in the operation. The main sale, of over 730,000 shares, took place in February, followed by the sale of a smaller package.

The OSP calculation takes into account the dividends distributed by Petrobras in the fiscal period from 2019 to the first quarter of 2023, with two installments still to be paid by December 27 of this year (the 2019 dividends were paid in July of 2020).

“BNDES lost in three years the amount it gained from the sale of Petrobras shares, which went into the hands of other shareholders. This Jair Bolsonaro government policy of privatizing everything possible without looking at the consequences caused a lot of damage country and, certainly, this sale of BNDES shares was one of the biggest”, says economist Eric Gil Dantas, from OSP and the Brazilian Institute of Political and Social Studies (Ibeps).

When contacted by the Panel, the president of the BNDES at the time of the operation, Gustavo Montezano, declined to comment.

In a note, the current management of the BNDES states that “the high dividends paid by Petrobras in recent years indicate that the maintenance of the shares has proved to be a lucrative alternative. These dividends account for a considerable part of the recent profit of the BNDES and, if the Bank had not if disposed of the assets, this contribution would certainly have been greater”.

“The strategy of the new BNDES management is to maintain the shareholding position as an investor in Petrobras and collaborate with the oil company to increase investment in the oil and gas sector in the company’s transition to other energy sources as part of the Technical Cooperation Agreement enters BNDES and Petrobras, signed this Thursday (22)”, he completes.

The bank currently has an 8% stake in Petrobras.

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