(Bloomberg) -- Americanas SA, the Brazilian retailer that was rocked by a massive accounting fraud and sunk into bankruptcy protection, saw its shares slump after a lock-up period ended for most creditors following its debt restructuring.
The stock dropped as much as 73% Thursday in Sao Paulo on heavy volume before paring losses to trade at 0.16 reais per share. Its market capitalization, which had briefly swelled to 15 billion reais ($2.7 billion) following a capital injection, is now back down to 3.2 billion reais.
“The initial lock-up (approximately 73%) of the new shares received by creditors who adhered to Payment Option II of the Judicial Recovery Plan, including banks, bondholders, debenture holders and others, ended,” the company said in an emailed statement.
The Rio de Janeiro-based company released delayed financial results late Wednesday that showed a 2.3 billion-real loss in 2023 and another 1.4 billion reais of losses for the first half of 2024.
In late July, the company’s board approved a 24.5 billion-real capital increase led by its top shareholders, the billionaires trio of Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles and Carlos Sicupira. Large banks, which were caught holding billions of debt from loans after the crisis, had part of the liabilities converted into equity.
In addition to releasing earnings, executives announced the suspension of new guidance as Americanas looks to reassess its financial situation and operations. The company said that the end of the lock-up period “is not related to the presentation of results.”
The nearly 100-year-old retailer, which sells everything from candy to electric appliances and clothing, uncovered what it estimated was a 25 billion-real multi-year fraud carried out by the previous management team that included hiding supply-chain financing agreements and falsifying advertising contracts.
The federal police carried out a series of raids and arrest warrants in June targeting former executives, including the ex-chief executive officer Miguel Gutierrez who is now living in Spain, where he was briefly detained.
On Aug. 26, Americanas will carry out a 100-to-1 share split and award subscription bonuses to creditors.
After the capital increase, issuance of shares and bonuses, the shareholder composition will consist of 49.5% for the billionaire businessmen, 48.1% for creditors and 2.4% for minority investors, Americanas said in a presentation.
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