STJ assists banks and denies Americanas’ request to concentrate lawsuits in RJ – 03/04/2023 – Market

The Minister of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) Raul Araújo decided on Friday (4) in a preliminary manner that there is no conflict of competence between the lawsuit in the São Paulo Court that investigates Americanas and the company’s judicial recovery in progress in the Rio de Janeiro.

The minister’s decision, on a preliminary basis, is in favor of the company’s creditor banks, represented in this action by Febraban, Itaú, Santander and Bradesco. Americanas’ intention was to concentrate the collection of evidence and decisions involving the company in RJ.

According to the minister, as noted on the STJ website, judicial recovery, unlike bankruptcy, does not require the formation of a universal court competent to judge all actions, whether knowledge or execution, related to assets, interests and businesses of recoveries.

Americanas, which filed for bankruptcy in January after revealing accounting problems of at least R$ 20 billion, released an update to the company’s creditors list, and raised the value of its debt from R$ 41.2 billion to R$ 42.5 billion.

The retailer also revised the total number of creditors, which went from around 7,720 to around 9,460.

The conclusion of the analysis of Americanas’ total debt should only take place in March. Preliminary data point to a liability that could exceed R$ 48 billion, two sources close to the process told Reuters.