Clothes, sweets and electronics: in Brazil, few brands offer as many cheap products as the Americanas stores, whose red and white logo is part of the street furniture. Founded in 1929 by five American immigrants in Rio de Janeiro, following the model of the supermarkets popular in the United States, the stores quickly spread throughout the country. Today the company, which has become the fifth largest distribution group in Brazil, has more than 1,700 employees in 900 cities and employs 44,000 people.
But now, since January, this success has been overshadowed by a huge financial scandal. On the 11th of that month, nine days after taking over the reins of the company, the managing director, Sergio Rial, reveals that he had identified “accounting inconsistencies” up to 20 billion reais (3.8 billion euros). After the correction, the group’s debt doubled, reaching 42.5 billion reais: an amount impossible to repay. Subsequently, Mr. Rial resigns and Americanas is placed into receivership.
Five months later, the company realizes the facts. On June 13, she admits, in a press release, that she has been the subject of a vast operation of “fraud” by the administration of Miguel Gutierrez, who led it between 2001 and 2022, before the arrival of Rial. According to Americanas, he inflated profits through false advertising contracts with suppliers or the omission of loans in the financial statements. All to multiply bonuses and dividends as the company collapsed.
Extreme cost reduction
The scandal, one of the most serious in the history of Brazil, leaves business circles perplexed. “ This is a big surprise and a big disappointment for Brazilian companiesexplains Pedro Wongtschowski, president of the superior council for innovation and competitiveness of the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo. Not only because of the scale of the problem, but also because this is a company whose shareholders were highly respected. »
Nicknamed “the gods of Brazilian capitalism,” billionaires Jorge Paulo Lemann, Alberto Sicupira and Marcel Telles, who own 31% of the company, are among Brazil’s five richest. Alongside the Americanas group, they have an investment fund, 3G Capital, which invests in famous multinationals, such as the ketchup manufacturer Kraft Heinz, the Belgian beer company AB InBev or the king of fast food, Restaurant Brands International, owner of Burger King .
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