Brazil financial watchdog probes Minerva CFO comments that roiled shares
By Tatiana Bautzer and Paula Laier
SAO PAULO, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Brazilian securities watchdog CVM said on Thursday it was investigating comments by a top executive of Minerva SA on social media and in a newspaper that sent shares of the meatpacker on a wild ride this week.
On Thursday, Minerva shares were down 11.5% near market close, at 8.79 reais, the second largest drop among stocks in benchmark index Bovespa.
On Wednesday, they had jumped 14%, a day after Minerva CFO Edison Ticle spoke about a potential delisting or share buyback in a live webcast on Instagram led by Rafael Ferri, a shareholder in social trading app TC TradersClub.
On Wednesday, newspaper Valor Economico reported that shareholders in Minerva were considering a delisting and quoted Ticle on the matter. Later, the CFO confirmed in a statement to Reuters the company was considering the issue.
"Clearly there is an opportunity in Minerva shares, as the market looks very superficially at the company´s results. ... We are considering all potential alternatives but we have nothing concrete so far," Ticle said a statement to Reuters on Wednesday evening.
But around 11 p.m. on Wednesday, the company sent a securities filing denying a delisting.
In a statement to Reuters, the regulator said the participation of Ticle in an Instagram live is being investigated in a probe under the number 19957.006435/2021-20.
On Thursday, after CVM announced the probe, Minerva sent a new securities filing saying Ticle had spoken on social media "in a hypothetical manner" and never referred to concrete transactions.
In a note to clients, BTG analysts led by Thiago Duarte said "for a company whose dividends have just now become a reality after years working to deleverage the balance sheet (...) using cash to re-lever it so significantly doesn´t make much sense." (Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer and Paula Laier; additional reporting by Nayara Figueiredo; editing by Jonathan Oatis, Aurora Ellis and David Gregorio)
