A Brazilian judge yesterday accepted a request for bankruptcy protection from former billionaire Eike Batista's oil company, OGX, but denied the same protection for two small foreign subsidiaries in a potential setback for the company, Reuters reported today. Rio de Janeiro Judge Gilberto Matos granted bankruptcy protection for the company's Brazil-based units OGX Petróleo e Gás SA and OGX Petróleo e Gas Participações SA. OGX sought court protection from creditors on Oct. 30 after it failed to convince them to refinance more than $5.1 billion in obligations, in Latin America's largest-ever corporate bankruptcy filing. OGX has two foreign subsidiaries, OGX Internacional and OGX Austria. The judge denied the request for those units on grounds bankruptcy protection should be decided in the countries where they are based, according to a copy of the judge's decision.
