Find out how Americanas broke down and discover what could still come from this story, find out the details here.
The company’s debt amounts to R$43 billion after years of “accounting inconsistencies”. Now, the company is trying to negotiate debts with creditors to recover.
The year has begun and the big economic issue of 2023 for Lojas Americanas has nothing to do with government or politics.
The big news is the hole in one of the most famous stores among Brazilians, Lojas Americanas.
The company is in the process of judicial recovery after a judge accepted the request last Thursday.
And while the company is trying to get on its feet, street stores remain open.
Lojas Americanas' debt is an account with many zeros.
The company itself admits that it is R$ 43 billion, much more than the R$ 20 billion initially announced.
But what is this gap? How much does the company owe and to whom? Find out what the Americanas crash was like.
Discover the loss of Lojas Americanas
The gap basically arises from problems in accounting for the liabilities that the company has with its suppliers and banks.
During the transaction, the company buys the merchandise from the supplier and pays this debt with a bank loan before selling.
The supplier earns interest on this and the company then pays the interest to the banking institution. This is fantastic. The problem was when recording these debts.
Instead of recording a financial debt, Americanas recorded an unpaid debt with the supplier on its balance sheet. And this within a few years caused billions of debt.
Many of Americanas' debts have variable contractual terms, which exacerbated its situation. The interest rate increased and the terms decreased and, thus, the bill reached 43 billion reais.
Who are the creditors?
Americanas owes 16 thousand creditors, including companies, banks and even individuals. Only 30 % of the company belongs to three groups of shareholders: Carlos Alberto Sicupira, Jorge Paulo Lehmann and Marcel Telles.
When the crisis broke, the three famous businessmen negotiated with the banks and offered 6 billion reais to strengthen the company.
But the banks did not find the amount sufficient. They wanted at least R$ 10 billion to start talking and the parties were unable to reach an agreement.
It is worth remembering that large investment funds are creditors to Americanas, such as Black Rock, the largest in the world, but many small investors are also involved in the case.
READ TOO
From largest to smallest, there are around 140 thousand investors. Find out what the Americanas crash was like.
What is judicial recovery like?
In the judicial recovery process, the company will try to renegotiate its debts.
Therefore, they will call banks and suppliers to seek new discounts and conditions. It's a whole process that usually takes months or sometimes years.
In this case, the company may try to sell some of its assets.
For example, few people know that Americanas has other stores throughout Brazil.
She owns Imaginarium, Puket, Natural da terra and Hortifruti, in addition to half of the stores known as Convenience Store with BR Mania.
This entire process will take time, but it is important for the company to recover, because we are talking about direct and indirect jobs.
services
For more information, visit the website of Exame.com
