Posted on 03 Sep 2024
Brazil's High Court has issued a final decision validating Vale's privatisation process. The ruling ends a 27-year-long legal dispute, Kallanish notes.
“The STJ's decision makes it virtually impossible to file new lawsuits challenging the merits of Vale's privatisation and ensures legal certainty for the company,” says Vale lawyer Carlos Siqueira Castro.
Since the privatisation of the mining company in 1997, the process has been the subject of more than 70 public civil lawsuits. At the time, the company was sold by the government for BRL 3.3 billion ($513 million), a value that the plaintiffs considered low. Adjusted for inflation, it would be equivalent to about BRL 28 billion today. The mining company currently has an estimated market value of BRL 270 billion.
In February 2021, Brazil’s state-controlled development bank, Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES), concluded the sale of all of its equity interest in Vale. The action was part of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s strategy to reduce government stakes in private companies.
Source:Kallanish
