Americanas hires Citi to sell Natural da Terra

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Americana has hired Citigroup to begin prospecting for parties interested in the acquisition of Hortifruti Natural da Terra next week, the retailer said Thursday.

The sale of the company was anticipated in the company’s judicial recovery plan filed in March. The retailer has been in crisis since it disclosed in January an accounting deficit of about 20 billion riyals.

In addition to Natural da Terra, Americanas is also looking for those interested in buying the company’s stake in Uni.Co Group, owner of the Puket and Imaginarium brands, it announced Monday. Citi also advises the company in this area.

Americanas also said Thursday that the operations of Ame, its financial technology subsidiary, had been the target of unsolicited approaches by potential interested parties, and that it had decided to begin the process of evaluating strategic alternatives for the unit.

Follow up on recommendations

Americanas said in a statement that the process “may include initial contacts with potential stakeholders,” but that no strategic decision has been made regarding Amy.