Banks try to block sale of Oi assets
A little over a week before the first auctions, Itaú, Santander, Banco do Brasil and Caixa try in court to suspend the sales of assets owned by Oi or to block future revenues generated by them. At the center of the dispute are modifications done in the judicial recovery plan of the phone carrier approved by creditors on September 8 that changed the form of payment of credits due to banks.
Oi hopes to get at least R$26.9 billion with the sale of five large blocks of assets which include its cellphone operations and satellite TV, in addition to data centers, telecommunication towers and optical fiber infrastructure.
To justify the injunction requests filed at a trial court, the banks claim that the sale of relevant assets would bring irreparable losses to creditors. "The implementation of sales of assets and payments provided for therein implies acts that are impossible to reverse, given the magnitude of the amounts involved," argue lawyers representing Banco do Brasil in a 97-page appeal dated October 30.
High Court judge Monica Maria Costa, of the 8th Civil Chamber of the Court of Justice of the State of Rio de Janeiro, denied Tuesday an injunction from Banco do Brasil. The state-run bank asked for "the suspension of any and all distribution between creditors of the proceeds of the sale of assets." In her decision, the judge cites "the harmful impacts that the protection of rights pursued could have on the market and on the recovery plan."
The sale of Oi's mobile phone operations alone should result in the injection of R$16.53 billion in the company, if a binding proposal made by América Móvil's Claro, Telefónica and TIM Brasil is successful.
"The real reason for the banks' appeal is that they were not satisfied with the new payment term of their credits. However, this dissatisfaction cannot be examined by the judiciary, as it refers to a purely economic aspect, not a legal one," said a lawyer linked to a Oi shareholder who asked not to have his name disclosed.
In a first legal move, even before the general meeting of creditors held in September, financial institutions filed objections in court claiming that the amendment is in fact a new recovery plan. The banks' claims were rejected at first instance.
Approved by the Court in October, the alteration in Oi's recovery plan stipulated a discount of up to 55% on the face value of the debt with banks and export credit agencies. The face value of the debt that Oi has with local banks was R$9.33...
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