Oi: Court taps CEO as exclusive plan negotiator; meeting postponed

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, Nov. 30 – Oi SA said the 7th Corporate Court of the District of the Judicial District of the Capital of the State of Rio de Janeiro made several determinations after reexamining requests from company creditors.

According to a news release, the court denied requests for the suspension of the voting rights of the members of Oi’s board of directors and the minority shareholders.

The court also maintained a precautionary decision that determined that new directors Helio Costa and João Vicente Ribeiro should refrain from interfering in any way with matters related to this judicial reorganization process, as well as negotiating and drawing up a judicial reorganization plan.

These plan-related matters will remain in the exclusive jurisdiction of Oi Group’s chief executive officer, “under the penalties of civil and criminal law,” the release said.

In addition, the court appointed Oi Group CEO Eurico Teles as the person in charge of conducting and concluding negotiations with the creditors of the group’s reorganization until Dec. 12, on which date he must personally present the reorganization plan to the court that will be voted on in a general creditors meeting, regardless of approval by the board of directors.

The court also denied a request by Oi’s judicial administrator to submit alternative plans to the general creditors meeting if any, that are submitted by relevant creditors.

The first call of the general creditors meeting was rescheduled by the court for Dec. 19. The first call meeting may continue on Dec. 20, if necessary. The Feb. 1 and Feb. 2 second-call meeting dates were unchanged.

Regarding a request to prohibit the signing of the plan support agreement negotiated by minority shareholders, the court said Anatel has already prohibited the signing of that plan.

“Furthermore, it is not for the court to assess the merits of the reorganization plan,” the court said in its order.

Oi is a Rio de Janeiro-based telecommunications service provider. It filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on June 21, 2016 under case number 16-11791.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.