Under receivership since March last year, the Dia supermarket chain has so far received only R$20 million (12%) out of a volume of R$163.3 million invested in CDBs (certificates of bank deposit) from Letsbank, a bank targeted for liquidation by the Central Bank and which is part of the Master group.
The situation is described as “worrying” in the monthly activity report from Expertisemais, the judicial recovery administrator. In particular, it calls into question the recoverable value of a precatório offered by the financial institution as part of the payment of the debt.
The speaker claims that she had already warned about the problem in previous reports, but that the situation had worsened last month. The controller of Grupo Dia is businessman Nelson Tanure.
In a statement, Dia indicated that financial information is only disclosed through official channels of the judicial administration and that certain data is protected by banking secrecy.
“We reaffirm that we are 100% compliant with all obligations set out in the legal recovery process, and that there is no change in the conduct of operations, in the supply of stores or in any relationship with partners, suppliers and customers,” he said.
Letsbank admitted a debt of R$163.3 million to Dia and paid R$20 million on October 28. R$50 million was paid in several installments, which will be paid in monthly installments of R$5 million starting in February 2026.
The remaining balance of BRL 93.3 million would be resolved through the granting of court orders with a nominal value of BRL 116 million. The administrator estimates that the recoverable value of these credits could be “significantly lower”, which would compromise Dia’s cash flow.
She warns that the group has recorded on the balance sheet the 116 million BRL resulting from court decisions as non-current assets (assets and rights which will not be converted into cash in less than 12 months). He did not take into account what the recoverable value would be, estimating that 100% of this money could be used to repay debts to the PGFN (Attorney General of the National Treasury).
“The current tax transaction does not provide for the use of court decisions to amortize the unpaid balance,” the administrator said.
This means that Dia would have to turn to the secondary market to trade the court orders, where the discount percentage would be 30-60%.
The speaker calls into question the non-application of the “impairment test”, an accounting procedure allowing the recoverable value of an asset to be assessed.
Letsbank saw its extrajudicial liquidation ordered by the Central Bank on November 18. The institution is one of the branches of Banco Master, suspected of issuing false credits and facing serious liquidity problems. The majority shareholder, Daniel Vorcaro, was arrested (then released), accused of fraudulent sales of credit securities.
Because it was initiated as a buyout request by Grupo Dia in its accounting documents, the company achieved financial income of BRL 23.3 million in October. But Expertisemais considers it a fragile accounting gain, because it is a complex asset with uncertain liquidity.
The administrator also says the company’s working capital “once healthy, now constitutes the main challenge.” The report criticizes timidity in controlling spending and alleged slowness in resolving Letsbank’s CDB problem.
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