Americanas pushes restructuring as federal fraud probe intensifies

Brazilian retailer Americanas continues its post‑fraud restructuring, cutting its store footprint from about 1,880 to roughly 1,448 locations and selling non‑core assets. In February, creditors approved the sale of real‑estate assets valued between R$346 million and R$468 million; in May the company sold ten loss‑making Hortifruti stores in São Paulo for R$69.3 million. These moves are intended to lower debt, which would be 29 % lower – to about R$535 million – if recent disposals are reflected in the balance sheet.

Operationally, Americanas is shifting to an online‑to‑offline (O2O) model, concentrating on a limited number of large marketplace sellers and using its physical outlets as logistics hubs. Physical stores now account for 95 % of net revenue, up from 91 % a year earlier. In the first quarter, revenue rose 20.2 % to R$3.1 billion, adjusted EBITDA turned positive at R$15 million and the net loss from continuing operations narrowed 24.8 % to R$336 million.

At the same time, the Federal Police’s Operation Disclosure entered its second phase, reopening the 2023 accounting‑fraud investigation that led to a R$25.3 billion hole. Police executed ten search and seizure warrants, targeting former executives, board members and major shareholders such as Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles and Carlos Alberto Sicupira. Up to R$54 billion of assets have been frozen, and the shareholders issued statements saying they were surprised by the operation and will cooperate fully.