Creditors of distressed Brazilian retailer Americanas SA approved a restructuring plan to overhaul 50 billion reais ($10.3 billion) of debt in a key step to applying a recovery plan nearly a year after its sudden implosion due to a multi-year fraud, Bloomberg News reported. With more than 97% of banks, bondholders and suppliers represented at the virtual meeting, the creditors gave the company the green light to proceed with the plan that envisions a capital injection of 24 billion reais in 2024 and recovery rates close to 30%. The stock gained as much as 7.8% in Sao Paulo trading to 0.97 reais a share. Brazil’s wealthiest and most iconic businessmen billionaires Jorge Paulo Lemann, Carlos Sicupira and Marcel Telles are the largest shareholders of Americanas and have agreed to inject 12 billion reais into the company as part of the recovery plan. They’ve already put up 1.5 billion reais as part of debtor-in-possession financing and will disburse another 3.5 billion reais shortly after the plan’s approval, chief financial officer Camille Loyo Faria said in the assembly on Tuesday.
