Brazil's Rio de Janeiro state courts on Monday (Oct. 19) ended the court-supervised restructuring of retailer Americanas, three years and nine months after the company filed for protection. The ruling, issued by Judge Arthur Eduardo Magalhães Ferreira of Rio's 4th Business Court, covers Americanas S.A. and its subsidiaries B2W Digital Lux, JSM Global and ST Importações. On Tuesday (Oct. 20), the company's shares (AMER3) rose as much as 25.63% to R$7.50, according to InfoMoney. The decision can still be appealed.
The crisis began on Jan. 11, 2023, when the company disclosed "accounting inconsistencies" initially estimated at about R$20 billion. Eight days later, Americanas filed for judicial recovery, reporting debts of about R$43 billion. Judicial recovery (recuperação judicial) is Brazil's court-supervised restructuring process under Law 11,101/2005, similar to Chapter 11 in the United States, which lets a struggling company renegotiate its debts with creditors without being forced into immediate bankruptcy.
Creditors approved the restructuring plan in December 2023, and the court confirmed it in February 2024. On March 25, 2026, the company asked to end the process in a material fact filing, arguing it had met the obligations that came due in the two years after confirmation. The court-appointed administrator and the Rio de Janeiro State Public Prosecutor's Office both backed the request. According to Bloomberg Línea, the judge rejected objections from holders of bonds issued abroad, who challenged the conversion of dollar debt into reais, as well as claims from suppliers and landlords.
What changes for businesses
For suppliers and creditors, closing the case does not erase the obligations set out in the plan. In the ruling, the judge wrote that a creditor who believes it was harmed by non-compliance "may request specific performance or bankruptcy." Pending claims to register or challenge credits will remain before the same court. The company may also drop the words "in judicial recovery" from its name in official records, which typically weighs on credit checks, contracts and commercial negotiations.
In retail, Americanas reaches this stage as a smaller operation. Its store count fell from 1,863 in September 2022 to 1,448 in March 2026, according to Bloomberg Línea. Over that period, the company sold Uni.co, owner of the Imaginarium and Puket brands, for R$162 million, and ten Natural da Terra stores for R$69.3 million. It also adopted a store-within-a-store model with brands such as WePink and Panini.
On the marketing side, the company launched Americanas Ads, a retail media business, meaning it sells advertising space on the retailer's own channels to the brands it carries. According to Bloomberg Línea, the operation draws on 37 million identified customers. Meio & Mensagem, a Brazilian advertising trade publication, reported that a partnership with MegaMídia Group aims to double retail media revenue by the end of 2026. Financially, the company posted net income of R$98 million from regular operations in 2025 and a net loss of R$274 million in the second quarter of 2026, according to Bloomberg Línea.
“[The closure] represents an important milestone in the company's history.”
— Americanas, in a material fact filing signed by CFO and Investor Relations Officer Sebastien Durchon, according to Poder360 (translated from Portuguese)
What to watch next
- The court-appointed administrator has 15 days to file a report on the plan's execution and 30 days to submit final accounts.
- Possible appeals by creditors against the ruling.
- Criminal cases remain open: in the week before the decision, Brazil's federal court in Rio put 12 former executives on trial. Americanas says it was the victim of a "structured and intentional" fraud.
- The company's performance on Black Friday and in its third-quarter results, whose date was not given in the sources consulted.
