The Court of Paulista has declared bankruptcy of The Sales Machine, owner of Ricardo Eletro. According to the current president and financial controller of Máquina de Vendas, Pedro Bianchi, the decision was a “very big surprise”. The judge made this decision without hearing anyone. “No creditor has filed for our bankruptcy and the trustee doesn’t want our bankruptcy,” said Bianchi, who took over after business for a company that was trying to reverse the company’s poor financial position.
a stadium He spoke with one of the company’s creditors who stated that, at least for the time being, there is no intention of filing for bankruptcy for the company, although there are concerns that the company, one day, will be able to meet its obligations. Therefore, there are ongoing collection and enforcement procedures for collateral. Business debt is in the billions, and Bradesco and Santander only focus on about R$2 billion in IOUs (bonds).
According to Bianchi, none of the 17,000 creditors have filed for bankruptcy for the company, which is continuing its plans to resume operations in the coming weeks. The company, which at one time had 1,200 stores and a turnover of R$ 9.5 billion, rivaling giants such as Casas Bahia, Ponto and Magazine Luiza, today is a site with few products and near zero sales, as shown in the report. From stadium At the end of April.
No economic feasibility
In the operation that carried out the retailer’s bankruptcy, the judge ruled that the vending machine was no longer economically viable and that there was already an emptying of the operation, especially after the stores were closed during the pandemic.
According to Bianchi, these arguments are incorrect. “It is not the judge who decides whether the company is economically viable or not, but the creditors. And about the unloading of assets, what happened is that after closing the stores, we wrote off the remaining inventory and were consuming it for the sake of operation. But the company did not transfer anything, as all Something for operating and current expenses”, says the entrepreneur.
According to the businessman, Máquina de Vendas has already filed an injunction against the decision and expects to accept it by Friday, the 10th. And he adds that plans to put Operation Ricardo Eletro online on the air continue at the same pace: the site sold about R$30,000 a day again, even before its relaunch, which is supposed to take place next week.
“The company’s salaries and social fees are up to date and we already have 30,000 new products uploaded to the site,” he says. Bianchi expects the sales machine to generate total sales of R$120 million per month by the end of the year.
The businessman also claims that if the injunction is not granted, the vending machine will appeal to the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ). But we have a good expectation that the injunction will be accepted and there are creditors who are already going to file an appeal that supports us. The judge surprised everyone.
Date
After reaching R$9.5 billion in revenue in 2014, the company entered a period of difficulty coinciding with the economic recession in Brazil. In 2018, the recovery came out of court — thanks to billions in borrowing from banks and suppliers — and the promise that things would change. At this time, Bianchi, who at the time was a partner in the Starboard Fund, took charge of the company.
The pandemic has complicated the scenario of an already battered vending machine, which has decided to close all stores. The result: the company’s revenue dwindled, from R$180 million per month in 2019 to practically zero. To complete tax debts, Ricardo Nunes was arrested in 2020, for evasion, but only spent one day in prison. Bianchi bought Nunes’ stake in Máquina de Vendas, and the previous owner left for a “coach” life.
During the pandemic, Bianchi decided to step down from his Starboard role to focus entirely on the vending machine. In doing so, its main task was to renegotiate all the company’s debts, amounting to R$4 billion, plus another R$1 billion in tax arrears. The result of all this was that the company was forced to a judicial redemption.
Recently, with Pedro in full control of Máquina de Vendas, the company underwent a complete restructuring. From 28,000 employees at its peak, it reduced the operation to 40 people. It also changed the e-commerce platform to technology from Vtex, with the hope that online sales would mark the beginning of the company’s recovery. The idea is to restart physical stores in 2023.
For an entrepreneur, plans continue even with a judge’s bankruptcy decision. “Everything stays in the plans. Here it is unstoppable,” he says.
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