Brazilian pellet producer Samarco, a 50/50 joint venture (JV) between Vale and BHP Billiton, was ordered by a Minas Gerais state court to pay $125 million in debt to creditors in three days, effectively from February 8, 2021.
A group of creditors known as Samarco Ad Hoc Creditors Group said the company owed it $125 million in notes, whose debt must be paid, according to the judge’s decision.
The group of creditors said the debt was “one of several” Samarco did not honor or pay, and it is asking for a combined $2.7 billion in debt from Samarco, all of which is unpaid.
The $2.7 billion debt are made of senior notes currently pending at US courts in New York. The group said it has tried to avoid a lawsuit for years by offering a high degree of “tolerance” as Samarco dealt with regulatory issues.
However, Samarco refused to discuss a debt restructuring since January 2019, the group of creditors said, the reason which motivated it to file the lawsuit in Brazil. The group of creditors said it could also file other lawsuits to get paid by Samarco.