Oi SA filed for bankruptcy protection on 65 billion reais ($19 billion) in debt — a Brazilian record — after failing to reach an agreement with creditors, the last straw following a series of mergers and leadership changes that failed to help the phone company get on solid financial footing, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Brazil’s fourth-largest wireless company sought protection from creditors so it could keep serving customers, the company said in a filing yesterday. Talks with creditors had stalled last week after some board members disagreed with a plan by bondholders to swap debt for equity, giving them 95 percent of the company and leaving current shareholders with a 5 percent stake.
