A U.S. bankruptcy court is set to hear a dispute involving Brazilian telecoms company Oi SA and major shareholder Bratel Brasil SA, Bratel said yesterday, as investor discontent with Oi’s bankruptcy reorganization process shows no signs of abating, Reuters reported. On Friday, Bratel, a subsidiary of Portugal’s Pharol SGPS SA, which owns almost 28 percent of Oi’s common shares, said that it had filed a legal complaint in the United States. The complaint alleges that the rights of Oi shareholders were violated as part of an agreement approved by creditors in December to severely dilute shareholders’ equity to take Oi out of bankruptcy protection. Bratel said yesterday that Bankruptcy Judge <b>Sean Lane</b> had scheduled a hearing for May 29. Representatives for Oi criticized the move in a separate statement sent to Reuters, writing that the company “believes Pharol is acting in a totally isolated way in relation to all of the stakeholders in this process,” and that Pharol is trying to repeat arguments it unsuccessfully made in Brazilian courts.
