Dividend crisis piles pressure on Petrobras
The Petrobras dividend crisis deepened on Monday, piling pressure on the government and the company to find a solution. Behind the scenes, information circulated on Monday that the decision announced by the state-owned company on Thursday not to pay extraordinary dividends to investors could be reversed. The possibility of an agreement that would lead shareholders to analyze at a meeting on April 25 the partial or total distribution of the extraordinary dividend for the fourth quarter of last year was being considered.This scenario has become more likely as a result of the negative impact and consequences of the extraordinary dividend’s retention. After reaching a record market capitalization of R$571.4 billion on February 19, Petrobras has given back some of its gains in recent days. From that date until Friday’s close, the company had lost R$93.9 billion. Taking Monday’s close into account, the accumulated loss since February 19 has risen to R$100.5 billion.Last week, the board of directors of the state-run company frustrated investors by deciding to transfer the remaining profits to a capital reserve instead of distributing the amount to Petrobras’s shareholders, including the government itself, which is the controlling shareholder of the company and also benefits from the dividends paid. The extraordinary dividends would increase the federal government’s primary revenue by between R$6 billion and R$12 billion, a source from the federal government’s economic team told Valor on Monday. The dividends in question relate to the fourth quarter of last year.In an attempt to calm tempers, President Lula met in Brasília on Monday with ministers Alexandre Silveira (Mines and Energy) and Fernando Haddad (Finance), Chief of Staff Rui Costa, and Petrobras CEO Jean Paul Prates. On social media, Mr. Lula praised the meeting but did not refer to the crisis: "[It was a] good meeting with the Petrobras CEO Jean Paul Prates, ministers Fernando Haddad, Alexandre Silveira and Rui Costa, and the company’s board of directors. We talked about investment in fertilizers, energy transition, in short, the future of our country."After the meeting, Mr. Haddad said that keeping Petrobras’s dividends in reserve would not jeopardize the central government’s primary result. According to him, the ministry is "not pushing one way or the other." "The federal budget includes ordinary dividends. The Ministry of Finance didn’t prepare the [2024] budget having extraordinary...
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