Reuters SAO PAULO, Aug 28 –
Eike Batista, the controlling shareholder of OGX Petróleo e Gas Participações SA, is offering some holders of the Brazilian oil company’s $3.6 billion in bonds the chance to exchange their securities for stock, newspaper Folha de S. Paulo said on Wednesday.
In early July, a source with direct knowledge of Batista’s thinking told Reuters that OGX considered the bonds-for-stock swap as one of many options in a potential debt restructuring plan. If implemented, the exchange would leave Batista as a minority shareholder in OGX, Folha said.
Folha said Pacific Investment Management Co, or Pimco, the world’s largest bond investor, as well as BlackRock Inc, the world’s largest money manager, indicated their willingness to accept Batista’s proposal. The newspaper did not say how it obtained the information.
Prices on OGX’s 2018 and 2022 bonds have tumbled more than 80 percent this year alone, making them the worst-performing emerging market securities in the period, according to Thomson Reuters data.
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