Brazil construction giant sells assets to endure graft scandal
Brazil construction titan Odebrecht said Friday it was selling $3.2 billion of its assets to "get through the hurricane" that is the Petrobras bribery scandal rocking it and the government.
The move was because of the group's sudden difficulty in getting access to credit after being deeply implicated in the scandal, with accusations that it paid bribes to secure two projects for the Olympic Games in Rio, company CEO Newton de Souza told the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.
He added that recent weakening of the Brazilian real had also taken its toll on Odebrecht's finances.
Proceeds from the asset sale this year, he said, would go to "an immediate reduction" of the group's $25 billion debt.
"We believe that this will give us peace of mind to get through the hurricane," he said.
Among the assets to be divested are a hydroelectric plant and a toll freeway in Peru, and a stake in an oil well in Angola.
De Souza took over as acting CEO and president of Odebrecht in December, replacing Marcelo Odebrecht, who last month was sentenced to 19 years in prison for paying large bribes and money laundering.
Marcelo Odebrecht was the biggest head to roll so far in the expanding Petrobras graft scandal, in which executives from Brazil's state-owned oil company allegedly conspired with construction groups to siphon off billions in dollars through inflated contracts.
De Souza said the investigation into his group is "certainly not a comfortable situation, and it makes our corporate task more difficult."
But he said the company was taking steps "to create the bases of a new cycle" in its organization.