Soros Fund Acquires Shares of Brazil's Petrobras
November 23 2016 - 4:43AM
Dow Jones News
By Rogerio Jelmayer
SAO PAULO--Soros Fund Management LLC, which invests for
billionaire investor George Soros and his family, acquired shares
of Brazil's state-run oil company Petróleo Brasileiro SA, or
Petrobras, in the third quarter, after the company saw a change in
leadership and a fresh focus on debt reduction.
Soros Fund acquired a total of 1.56 million shares of Petrobras
in the period, according to the fund's quarterly report filed on
the website of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
In the last two years, the Soros Fund, along with other big
international investors--such as BlackRock Fund Advisors, and
Fidelity Management & Research Co.--cut their stakes in the
Brazilian company, at the center of an investigation into political
corruption that was gaining force.
Since 2014, prosecutors have documented a sprawling scheme
whereby Brazil's largest construction companies formed a cartel to
overcharge Petrobras for major contracts and pay kickbacks to
former executives at the oil company. Petrobras has said it was a
victim of the corruption and that it has been cooperating with
prosecutors.
In May, Brazil's then acting president, Michel Temer, named
Pedro Parente the oil company's new CEO. Mr. Temer was later
confirmed as president after his predecessor, Dilma Rousseff, was
impeached at the end of August in connection with allegations of
accounting irregularities related to the country's budget deficit.
Ms. Rousseff was also damaged politically by the Petrobras
scandal.
Mr. Parente, formerly the top executive at the Brazilian unit of
U.S. agribusiness giant Bunge Ltd., has been concentrating his
efforts on reducing the company's debt via the sale of assets.
Petrobras is the only Brazilian company in the Soros Fund
portfolio, highlighting the challenges local firms face in
attracting international investors amid the country's deep
recession. After contracting 3.8% last year, Brazil's economy is
expected to shrank 3.5% this year, according to finance ministry
projections.
Write to Rogerio Jelmayer at rogerio.jelmayer@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 23, 2016 05:28 ET (10:28 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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