Information
Bookshop | Donate Derechos | Equipo Nizkor

31Oct13

---

The dismantling of Eike Batista's industrial empire

---

Brazilian oil company OGX Petróleo e Gas Participações SA filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, in the latest blow to former billionaire Eike Batista's crumbling industrial empire.

OGX has been the cornerstone of Batista's Grupo EBX, an energy, mining and logistics conglomerate once valued at $60 billion. But disappointing output from offshore oil fields has wiped out more than 90 percent of OGX's market value this year, setting off a chain reaction among Batista's other businesses.

In search of fresh capital to meet debt obligations and keep operations running, Batista has been forced to bring in new investors and dilute his own holdings, breaking up a business empire over which he once had total control.

Below is the status of the five other listed EBX companies:

MPX Energia SA

German utility E.ON SE took the reins of power generator MPX Energia in March, tripling its stake with a roughly $1 billion investment and changing the company's name to Eneva SA in September.

In July, Batista stepped down as chairman of the operator of coal and natural-gas fired power plants after halving his stake to 27 percent this year. Batista may sell his remaining stock, the company said in a September filing.

E.ON is Eneva's biggest shareholder, with 38 percent of its stock.

LLX Logística SA

Batista ceded control of port operator LLX to U.S. investment group EIG Global Energy Partners LLC in August in a deal worth about $559 million at the time, guaranteeing he would step down as chairman of LLX's board.

Batista's once-controlling stake has shrunk to 21 percent of LLX, whose star project is the Port of Açú, billed as Latin America's biggest investment in port infrastructure.

MMX Mineração e Metálicos SA

Mining company MMX sold control of a key iron port to Dutch energy firm Trafigura Beheer BV and Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Development Co for nearly $1 billion in October.

In the deal Trafigura and Mubadala, Batista's largest single creditor, got a 65 percent stake in MMX Porto Sudeste Ltda, a port under construction that is slated to open by mid-2014.

China's Wuhan Iron and Steel Co, also known as Wisco, and Korea's SK Networks, a unit of SK Holdings Co, own minority stakes in MMX.

OSX Brasil SA

Shipbuilder OSX is working to refinance debts in order to avoid filing for bankruptcy protection, sources have told Reuters. OSX said on Monday it had no plans to file for protection "at the moment."

In May, OSX scaled back construction of its shipyard at Açú, which was designed to be the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. This month the shipbuilder, which is 10 percent owned by Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries Co Ltd, said it may consider several options, including a merger with rivals, without elaborating.

CCX Carvão da Colombia SA

Coal mining company CCX said on Tuesday it was entering final talks to sell about $450 million of Colombian assets to Turkish group Yildirim Holding Inc.

The companies hope to finalize the sale of the Cañaverales and Papayal open-air mines by the end of December, a deal valued at about $50 million, CCX said. Talks to sell the underground San Juan mine and associated rail and port infrastructure, valued at about $400 million, are expected to conclude by the by the end of April 2014.

Batista announced plans to delist the coal miner in January, less than a year after the company went public. He abandoned the plans to delist in June.

[Source: Reuters, London, 31Oct13]

Privacy and counterintelligence

This document has been published on 04Nov13 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.