The judge in charge of the judicial recovery of OSX — the shipbuilding company founded (and sunk) by Ike Batista — is frustrated with the company’s latest moves. In a decision issued last week, which was seen by the newspaper, the judge dismissed judicial director Lex Associados, listing a series of positions that for him constituted “a complete emptying of the trust placed by the court” in Lex.
The last straw that Judge Leonardo de Castro Gómez, of the Third Business Court of Rio, had to abandon, was the general meeting of creditors, which last October elected Lex herself “judicial director”. This number is responsible for the management of the company whose executives were removed by the courts in November 2024 due to complaints from creditors. The Judicial Director oversees the Judicial Director, but in the case of OSX, the role will be filled by the same company: Licks.
“It is astonishing that the same AJ (Judicial Administrator) was elected as judicial director of the company under reorganization, even though this Court has previously highlighted in several decisions the exception and brevity that the law imposes on the backlog of management and director functions. In fact, it is unacceptable that the same person was appointed to be her supervisor,” the judge wrote in the ruling. “It is not surprising that there have been challenges specifically aimed at overturning such a decision.”
Next, the judge lists reasons for losing confidence in Lex. One of the points was the Justice League’s delay in promoting the association to choose the judicial director: the court decided that the procedures would be taken in December 2024, but the assembly did not convene until last month. Since then, Leakes herself has temporarily accumulated that role, which “has broadened the scope of the backlog of functions required by law to be brief,” according to the judge.
The judge also did not like the way Licks handled the selection of the independent external auditor to prepare OSX’s financial statements. Licks said the contract with the previous auditor, RSM, expired in March 2025 and he evaluated the offers submitted by three companies: Grant Thornton (R$448,000), Baker Tilly (R$400,000) and Clifton Larson Allen (R$365,000). The latter was chosen because it offered the lowest cost.
“This judge found it strange that no quotation had been submitted with the previous audit firm and was concerned about the fact that the request came in files with restricted access, as well as the fact that the company being recovered did not have a finance board, and decided that the proposals should be sent to the master files of the recovery, with attention paid to the parties involved, and in addition that the director or other interested party must communicate, clearly, the values exercised in the audit undertaken by RSM. Well, in light of that order, the AJ/manager of the former audit firm, RSM, ended up being appointed, For an amount of 205 thousand Brazilian reais, which is much less than the initial proposal,” the judge said.
Licks was replaced by Pansieri Advogados, but the judge decided to approve the creditors’ decision to retain Licks as judicial manager. Today, the most important creditors of OSX are BTG Pactual and Caixa Econômica. The column found that Andre Esteves’ bank, which already had a guarantee given to the company in the range of half a billion dollars, also bought OSX credits held by companies like Reg, increasing its leverage in judicial recoveries.
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