Embattled Brazil Magnate Vows to Honor Debt
Embattled Brazilian energy magnate Eike Batista said Friday he is deeply disappointed by the virtual collapse of his business empire and vowed to pay off all of his EBX group's debts.
In an open letter carried by the daily O Globo, the man who was once the country's richest lamented his failure to deliver on the promises of his OGX flagship oil company.
Shares of the company he founded in 2007 tumbled 19.6 percent early this month after it was announced it would not be able to meet promised production targets.
"Two years ago, I put more than a billion dollars out of my own pocket into the company. I lost and I've been losing billions of dollars with OGX," the 57-year-old said.
"No one has lost as much as I have and that's the way it should be. It is unfair and unacceptable, however, to hear that I deliberately induced someone to believe in a dream or a fantasy."
"I am the one who most believed in OGX. I still do and that is why we are in the process of restructuring the company," he added.
Early this month, the tycoon quit as chairman of the troubled power generation company MPX he founded in 2001 as the board of directors approved an increase in private capital of $352 million to $2.82 per share.
"I took the decision to restructure the control of my companies. I am doing this with the certainty that I have a legacy to leave for the country," he said.
"I will honor all my commitments. I will not stop repaying a single cent of each debt I contracted."
Batista's net worth, estimated at $30 billion last year by Forbes magazine, has since shrunk by two thirds.
Earlier this year, OGX was reported to be in rescue talks with Russian and Malaysian energy giants, as well as state-owned Petrobras.
The EBX empire of commodities and energy businesses include OGX, MPX (energy), LLX (logistics), MMX (mining), OSX (offshore oil and gas services) and other firms.
Source: Agence France Presse
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