The billionaire owners of 3G Capital, who make up three of Americanas SA’s major owners, claimed on Sunday that they were unaware of the Brazilian retailer’s $4 billion in bookkeeping “inconsistencies.”
Jorge Paulo Lemann, genius Carlos Alberto Sicupira, as well as Marcel Telles expressed regret for losses suffered by investors and creditors in their first public statement since Americanas declared bankruptcy this month.
The statement said that no one knew of and would never permit such accounting manipulation within the organisation. It claimed that PwC had audited Americanas and that the firm’s banks and audits had never brought up any issues.
A Rio de Janeiro court on Thursday gave bankruptcy shelter to Americanas. Less than two weeks after beginning his position, Chief Executive Sergio Rial announced his resignation, alleging the finding of “financial discrepancies” totalling 20 billion reais.
Although they did not specify any specific actions, the billionaires stated in the statement that they wished to “work on the company’s rehabilitation so that it is as quick as possible.”
Creditors have demanded that the three give the retailer, which operates 1,700 outlets in Brazil, a financial infusion.
The statement claimed an impartial committee that Americanas created will look into any “asymmetry” in the interactions between auditors and banks.
The securities industry watchdog CVM has also opened investigations against Americanas, whose stock has lost more than 90% of its worth since it was made aware of the accounting issues.
Lemann, Sicupira, and Telles are most known for forming the private equity company 3G Capital, which has majority investments in businesses like ABInbev (ABI.BR) & Kraft Heinz Co.
They together own about 30% of Americanas’ stock (KHC.O). Americanas is not owned by 3G Capital.
On the other hand, a study on business conditions issued on Monday showed the potential that the United States is either in a recession or will enter one this year has decreased over the past 3 months to 56% from an approximately 2 possibilities.
A little over half (53%) of those surveyed by the National Association of Business Economics (NABE) predicted that the US would experience a recession within the next 12 months, while 3% said they believed the US was currently in one.
In a former NABE poll conducted in October, 64% of participants said there was a more-than-even chance that the U.S. economy would experience a recession during the next 12 months.
The most recent poll was conducted from January 4-11. A total of 60 NABE participants who work for private-sector businesses or industry trade associations participated.
Additionally, the survey revealed that respondents anticipated a decline in inflation within their respective industries and businesses, with a forward-looking measure of prices charged dropping by 10 percentage points since the former survey to touch its weakest level since October 2020.
At its policy meeting on January 31–February 1, the Federal Reserve is anticipated to hike interest rates by a 1⁄4 of a percentage point as it nears the end of its cycle of rate increases now that rising inflation is beginning to decline.
In a commendable effort to notch down inflation, which was close to 40-year highs, the U.S. central bank hiked rates last year at its peak rate since the early 1980s. The Fed’s favoured metric showed inflation is still close to three times the 2% target set by the institution.
There is optimism that inflation can be controlled without triggering a recession as seen by recent economic data showing that it is continuing to recede and that producer and consumer prices, salaries, and profits are all expanding more slowly.
