Braskem Shares Fall to $1.06 as Restructuring Talks Remain Stalled

Key Facts

Braskem shares closed at $1.06 on November 5, down from $1.12 in the previous session, as negotiations to restructure the company’s debt remained without a final agreement. The company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that Braskem, its main shareholders and investors had not reached final terms after several in-person meetings. It could not be verified that shareholders withdrew the financing offer on November 6, so the confirmed information remains that disagreements over restructuring terms are continuing. The company said it expects to continue discussions and negotiations with investors on the revised plan, while maintaining dialogue with its other financial creditors. That places the share decline in the context of unresolved negotiations, rather than a confirmed announcement that shareholders had withdrawn from the financing.

The current process traces back to an out-of-court restructuring request Braskem filed on August 24, aimed at providing a legal framework to negotiate and implement a restructuring of its unsecured financial obligations. In a filing on a plan submitted in August, the company said unsecured creditors that signed it represented 39.6% of the claims covered by the plan. That support, however, did not settle the terms of the deal: in its October 24 filing, the company said none of the proposals exchanged had been accepted and the parties had not agreed on restructuring terms. It also said in an earlier filing that the company and investors had exchanged proposals on the terms and mechanics of the process, but had not reached agreement on the proposal submitted. These disclosures show that continued negotiations did not amount to an agreement on how to allocate the burden of debt reduction or provide new capital.

The disagreement centered on the amount of financing shareholders or other parties would back, as well as debt-to-equity conversion. In Braskem’s proposal, as described by the company in an October filing, the rights offering was valued at $2.25 billion, with main shareholders or third parties to back $1.2 billion of it. The investors’ proposal included a $1.85 billion backstop for the same offering and an initial debt-to-equity conversion of the same value. In a report published by Bloomberg Law on October 7, creditors were said to have viewed shareholders’ commitment to inject about $1 billion in new capital as insufficient because it was conditional on a substantial debt reduction. The differences in the backstop and conversion amounts underscore that financing terms were a major subject of negotiation, without in themselves establishing that any offer was withdrawn on November 6.

A Reuters report published on October 26 gave different estimates of the proposed total financing and conversion, saying they amounted to about $4 billion in the creditors’ proposal and about $5 billion in Braskem’s proposal. According to the report, the company’s proposal included creditors converting $2.8 billion of debt into equity, with shareholders and third parties contributing $1.2 billion through a subsequent offering valued at $2.25 billion. These figures appeared in reports on proposals from that date; they were not announced final terms or an effective agreement. In its second-quarter results filing, Braskem said it had received indicative, nonbinding proposals from creditor groups on key terms and preliminary parameters for a potential restructuring. It also said its aim was to reach a consensual, comprehensive and orderly solution for its capital structure while ensuring business continuity in the ordinary course.

Company data as of June 30 showed total corporate debt of $10.4 billion, while adjusted net debt reached $9.5 billion, up 3% from the previous quarter. These figures explain the importance of reaching a financing settlement, but do not by themselves establish that November negotiations had reached an impasse or that an offer had been withdrawn. Braskem said in a filing on October 27 that the deadline to reach a preliminary agreement, which had been extended from time to time, was postponed in the latest extension to October 30, 2026. The company said it would continue negotiating with investors and financial creditors, with no announcement in the available evidence of a new final agreement after that date. The restructuring therefore remains dependent on the outcome of upcoming talks, while the share close on November 5 reflects the trading level recorded in that session.