Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. are cited as holding a combined 1.4 billion reais ($267 million) in credits from Americanas SA in a new list published by the distressed Brazilian retailer.
(Bloomberg) — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. are cited as holding a combined 1.4 billion reais ($267 million) in credits from Americanas SA in a new list published by the distressed Brazilian retailer.
Both banks have swap agreements with Americanas, the company said, with Goldman Sachs holding 1.065 billion reais and Bank of America 363.2 million reais. Swaps are derivative contracts through which two parties exchange cash flows or liabilities from two different financial instruments and one counterpart is taking the credit risk from the other.
Americanas filed a new roll of creditors on Friday night, adding names and values to the list presented last month. The company now says it owes 42.48 billion reais in total, according to a document seen by Bloomberg, up from 41.2 billion reais in the previous list. Creditors are now 9,462, from about 8,000 before.
JPMorgan Chase & Co., which Americanas had mentioned as a creditor in its first list without disclosing a specific amount, is owed about 360 million reais on the back of derivative contracts, according to the retailer.
Several funds run by Itau Asset Management, the asset-management arm of Itau Unibanco Holding SA, are also registered on the updated document, with the asset manager saying it’s owed a total 3.4 billion reais. Suppliers Samsung and Nestle appear with credits of 1 billion reais and 240 million reais, respectively.
Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan declined to comment, while Bank of America didn’t immediately reply to an email seeking comment. Itau Asset said it has priced in the debt at between 10% to 15% of face value, already anticipating likely losses. “There’s no significant impact in portfolios from now on,” the fund said in an e-mailed note.
Americanas said in an e-mailed response to questions that the updated list is “indispensable” to better reflect its financial position and abides by the rules of its bankruptcy protection.
The century-old retailer filed for protection from creditors on Jan. 19 after finding 20 billion reais of “accounting inconsistencies” that artificially boosted earnings and reduced reported liabilities by half. The firm has been embroiled in a legal fight with banks, which accuse the company and its three main shareholders, Jorge Paulo Lemann, Carlos Sicupira and Marcel Telles, of fraud. In a Jan. 22 statement, the three billionaires said they didn’t know about the accounting issues.
Local media had previously reported that Bank of America and Goldman Sachs filed separate petitions in court against Americanas in order to try to receive the value owned on the swaps, citing court filings which didn’t specify the amount.
(Adds amount owed to JPMorgan, Itau Asset and some suppliers starting in fourth paragraph)
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