Business · Companies · 1 hr ago
Oi creditors challenge R$98.5 million payment to former manager
Oi’s creditors are challenging a R$98.5 million payment approved by a Rio de Janeiro court for the firm Preserva-Ação.
The firm first handled Oi’s court-supervised restructuring and later took over management after the company’s board and executives were removed.
The creditors want the payment cancelled, suspended or reviewed for the 10 months the firm managed the company.
UMB Bank filed the challenge on behalf of investors who hold Oi debt.
A new CNJ rule points to a R$21.8 million fee based on 0.3% of Oi’s R$6.8 billion debt, according to a revised calculation by prosecutors.
Preserva-Ação says the new rule should not apply retroactively and argues that managing Oi was different from serving as a court-appointed administrator.
The dispute is unresolved, and the creditors are seeking a court review of the fee.
Oi creditors are challenging a R$98.5 million payment approved for Preserva-Ação, the firm that managed the company before its bankruptcy.
The challenge was filed by UMB Bank, which administers Oi debts owed to foreign investors.
The creditors seek to annul or suspend the payment and review the amount for the 10 months the firm managed Oi.
They argue that the payment did not follow rules issued by the National Council of Justice and was set without their participation.
Preserva-Ação says the rules should not apply retroactively and that its role as manager differed from that of a judicial administrator.
- Who
- Oi creditors, through UMB Bank, are challenging the payment to Preserva-Ação, represented by lawyer Bruno Rezende.
- What
- They seek to annul or suspend the R$98.5 million payment and review the amount.
- When
- The challenge follows a payment approved by the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice in 2026. The firm managed Oi for 268 days.
- Where
- The case is before the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice.
- Why
- Creditors say the payment did not follow National Council of Justice rules and was set without their participation. Preserva-Ação says the rules do not apply retroactively to its work as manager.
Oi creditors
Preserva-Ação
Payment amount and process
Oi creditors
The R$98.5 million payment is illogical and disproportionate, and was set without creditors’ participation or prior approval of the bankruptcy estate’s accounts.
Preserva-Ação
The firm says the payment proposal preceded the new National Council of Justice rule and should not be changed retroactively.
Applicable rules
Oi creditors
The creditors argue the payment should follow the council’s rules for judicial administrators; the Public Prosecutor’s Office recalculated it at R$21.8 million.
Preserva-Ação
Preserva-Ação argues that the rules concern judicial administrators, not managers, and that the roles are not equivalent.
Preserva-Ação entered Oi’s recovery case as judicial administrator.
The firm became judicial manager after Oi’s board and executive team were removed.
The National Council of Justice published Provision 231, setting rules for judicial administrators’ remuneration.
After Oi’s bankruptcy was declared, the manager role ended and Preserva-Ação remained as administrator of the bankruptcy estate.
The Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice approved the R$98.5 million payment.
- Payment challenged
- R$98.5 million
- Firm
- Preserva-Ação, represented by Bruno Rezende
- Creditor representative
- UMB Bank
- Management period
- 268 days
- Public Prosecutor’s Office recalculation
- R$21.8 million, based on 0.3% of R$6.8 billion in liabilities
- CNJ rule
- Provision 231, published in June 2026
What people are saying
devoid of logic and proportionality
The subsequent issuance of the provision cannot serve as a basis for altering, restricting or undoing legal facts that were validly constituted, completed and carried out under the previously applicable rules.
Compliance with the rules in force at the time of the legal acts is the legally appropriate treatment, as it best gives effect to the principles of legal certainty and stability in procedural relations.