Brazil's Americanas details accounting fraud
Adds details of findings, company background
By Luciana Magalhaes and Luana Maria Benedito
SAO PAULO, July 17 (Reuters) -Brazilian retailer Americanas SA is sharing with authorities new details of how it hid over $4 billion in debt, saddling investors with huge losses and doubts about what comes next for the 95-year-old brand, whose former executives are under police investigation.
The independent committee report on the accounting fraud, presented to the company's board and summarized for investors in a late Tuesday filing, adds to evidence that management cooked the books for years before a January 2023 bankruptcy filing.
The scheme involved improper entries in suppliers' accounts such as fictitious advertising budgets and financial operations incorrectly reflected on the company's balance sheet.
Americanas said in the filing that those responsible are no longer with the company and the internal report is being shared with federal police, prosecutors and securities regulators.
Last month, former chief executive Miguel Gutierrez was arrested in Madrid and later released as part of a police investigation. Brazilian authorities are pushing for extradition of Gutierrez, who has dual citizenship.
Another former executive targeted by the criminal probe, Anna Saicali, former head of e-commerce, recently returned from Portugal to Brazil and handed her passport over to police.
Attorneys representing Gutierrez and Saicali said in separate statements that their clients deny any wrongdoing and are collaborating with the investigation.
The scandal at Americanas, backed by three billionaires including Jorge Paulo Lemann, one of Brazil's richest men, sent shockwaves through financial markets and tarred a brand that has long been a fixture of Brazilian retail.
The company, based in Rio de Janeiro, is known for selling everything from chocolates to TV sets and women's underwear. But Americanas has struggled for years against fierce competition from more internet-savvy rivals such as Mercado Libre MELI.O and Magazine Luiza MGLU3.SA.
"I am skeptical about the future of Americanas, about the sustainability of their business model," said consultant André Pimentel, a managing partner at Performa Partners who worked on a restructuring of Americanas in early 2000s.
The retailer was founded in 1929 in Niterói, across the bay from Rio's state capital, by a group including Austrian and American entrepreneurs.
Lemann and his partners, Marcel Telles and Carlos Alberto Sicupira, later acquired a dominant stake in the company. The three, who have not been cited in the police investigation, currently own around 30% of shares and have agreed to put up additional capital to rescue the distressed company.
Reporting by Luciana Magalhaes and Luana Maria Benedito; Editing by Brad Haynes, Kirsten Donovan
Actifs liés
Dernières actualités
Avertissement : Les entités de XM Group proposent à notre plateforme de trading en ligne un service d'exécution uniquement, autorisant une personne à consulter et/ou à utiliser le contenu disponible sur ou via le site internet, qui n'a pas pour but de modifier ou d'élargir cette situation. De tels accès et utilisation sont toujours soumis aux : (i) Conditions générales ; (ii) Avertissements sur les risques et (iii) Avertissement complet. Un tel contenu n'est par conséquent fourni que pour information générale. En particulier, sachez que les contenus de notre plateforme de trading en ligne ne sont ni une sollicitation ni une offre de participation à toute transaction sur les marchés financiers. Le trading sur les marchés financiers implique un niveau significatif de risques pour votre capital.
Tout le matériel publié dans notre Centre de trading en ligne est destiné à des fins de formation / d'information uniquement et ne contient pas – et ne doit pas être considéré comme contenant – des conseils et recommandations en matière de finance, de fiscalité des investissements ou de trading, ou un enregistrement de nos prix de trading ou une offre, une sollicitation, une transaction à propos de tout instrument financier ou bien des promotions financières non sollicitées à votre égard.
Tout contenu tiers, de même que le contenu préparé par XM, tels que les opinions, actualités, études, analyses, prix, autres informations ou liens vers des sites tiers contenus sur ce site internet sont fournis "tels quels", comme commentaires généraux sur le marché et ne constituent pas des conseils en investissement. Dans la mesure où tout contenu est considéré comme de la recherche en investissement, vous devez noter et accepter que le contenu n'a pas été conçu ni préparé conformément aux exigences légales visant à promouvoir l'indépendance de la recherche en investissement et, en tant que tel, il serait considéré comme une communication marketing selon les lois et réglementations applicables. Veuillez vous assurer que vous avez lu et compris notre Avis sur la recherche en investissement non indépendante et notre avertissement sur les risques concernant les informations susdites, qui peuvent consultés ici.