The judge in charge of the judicial recovery of OSX, the sunken shipbuilding company founded by Ike Batista, is unhappy with the company’s recent moves. In a judgment obtained by this column last week, a magistrate dismissed judicial administrator Rix Associados, citing a series of behaviors that he believed “completely emptied the confidence the court has given him” in Rix.
The final challenge for Judge Leonardo de Castro Gómez of Rio’s Third Business Court came at a general meeting of creditors that elected Rix himself as “judicial director” in October. This person is responsible for the management of the company, but the company’s executives were dismissed by the court in November 2024 due to claims from creditors. The Judicial Administrator is overseen by the Judicial Administrator, but in the case of OSX, that role is performed by the same company, Licks.
“Surprisingly, the AJ (judicial administrator) himself was chosen as the judicial administrator of the company undergoing restructuring, even though this court had already emphasized in several judgments the exceptionality and simplicity that the law imposes on the accumulation of duties of managers and managers. Indeed, it is unacceptable that the same person should be appointed as his own supervisor,” the judge said in his judgment. “Of course, there are challenges aimed at overturning just such decisions.”
The judge then lists the reasons why he has lost confidence in Ricks. One problem was that the AJ delayed facilitating Congress’ selection of judicial administrators. The court decided to take action in December 2024, but parliament only met last month. Since then, Ricks himself has temporarily added to the role, which the judge said “significantly expanded the pool of duties concisely provided by law.”
The judge also didn’t like the way Ricks handled the selection of an independent external auditor to prepare OSX’s financial statements. Ricks said his contract with former audit firm RSM ended in March 2025 and that he had evaluated proposals from three firms: Grant Thornton (448,000 reais), Baker Tilly (400,000 reais) and Clifton Larson Allen (365,000 reais). The latter was chosen because it had the lowest cost.
“This magistrate, finding it strange that the estimate had not been prepared by the previous audit firm, and being concerned that the request had come in a file with limited access and the fact that there is no financial council in the company under reorganization, decided to forward the proposal to the main file of the reorganization, while being mindful of the stakeholders and stating that management and other stakeholders should be clearly informed of the values practiced in the audits carried out by RSM.Well, in view of that order; AJ/Manager hired his former auditing firm RSM for R$205,000, much less than originally proposed, and the matter was closed,” the judge reported.
Mr. Ricks was replaced by Pansieli Advogados, but the judge decided to approve the creditors’ decision to keep Mr. Ricks as head of the judiciary. Currently, OSX’s most important creditors are BTG Pactual and Caixa Econômica. Andre Estevez’s bank has already given the company $500 million in guarantees and has also bought OSX credits held by companies such as Reag, giving it more leverage in a judicial recovery, the column said.
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