The CEO of Petrobras, Magda Chambriard, made it clear this Thursday that the Brazilian state oil company has no intention of increasing its control over the petrochemical Braskem, unless the other shareholders accompany any eventual injection of funds in the same proportion.
"We do not plan to increase our stake, so it is not feasible to consider that Petrobras injects capital into Braskem unless other shareholders do the same," the executive stated in remarks reported by "Bloomberg" during the biannual oil conference ROG.e, held in Rio de Janeiro.
The Petrobras executive William França, a member of Braskem's board of directors, had already indicated earlier that Chambriard was confident in reaching an agreement to restructure the $11 billion (9.671 billion euros) debt that Braskem carries and thus avoid its bankruptcy.
In this regard, on Tuesday it was reported that Braskem's creditors were pressuring the bankruptcy administrators, Petrobras, and IG4 Capital Group, to provide $3 billion (2.638 billion euros) and unlock the negotiation of said restructuring.
These creditors have stated that they are not willing to commit more resources and have expressed doubts about the plan designed by Braskem, which contemplates some flexibility to carry out a capital increase.
The company had previously requested $2 billion (1.758 billion euros) from the creditors, of which $1.25 billion (1.099 billion euros) would be allocated to repurchase existing liabilities up to a maximum of 50% of their nominal value and $750 million (659.4 million euros) to strengthen working capital.
Still, Petrobras has intensified its efforts to finalize preliminary restructuring conditions before the deadline of October 9. If that understanding is reached, Braskem will have until the end of November to present a definitive plan.
In August, creditors such as Elliott Investment Management or Contrarian Capital Management expressed support for Petrobras to provide additional capital. However, the oil company has remained cautious, not wanting to incorporate Braskem's liabilities into its own balance sheet in a context marked by the presidential elections in October.
Currently, Petrobras controls 36.1% of Braskem's capital, equivalent to 47% of the capital with voting rights, while financial entities have claimed that the company increase its participation, contribute more working capital, or resort to the issuance of subordinated debt.