Petrobras advisers heard by CNN predict that Caio Mario Paes de Andrade should have two to four votes against and abstentions in the election for president of the state scheduled for the morning of this Monday (27). The number is not enough to prevent the executive from taking office.
The extraordinary meeting of the Administrative Council (CA) to decide on the appointment of Caio Mario Paes de Andrade to command the state-owned company is scheduled for 11 am. The rite provides that first the councilors decide if he can join the council and then carry out the election for president. When approved by the board, Paes de Andrade can be admitted virtually to accompany his election to president, but without the right to vote.
Petrobras’ Board of Directors has 11 members, but with the resignation of José Mauro Coelho last Monday (20th) there will be ten votes at stake. The workers’ representative, Rosângela Buzanelli, who has been criticizing the successive changes in the government of the state-owned company, and Francisco Petros, who represents minority shareholders and already voted against Paes de Andrade at the Eligibility Committee meeting, are considered against Paes de Andrade.
The votes in favor of Paes de Andrade are the votes of the Chairman of the Board, Márcio Weber and the government nominees Luiz Henrique Caroli and Ruy Flaks Schneider, in addition to the shareholders’ representatives Marcelo Gasparino da Silva, Juca Abdalla and Marcelo Mesquita.
With that, the expectation is that Paes de Andrade may have secured a score 6 to 2 in favor of his name. The doubts that remain to the counselors heard by CNN are about the votes of Murilo Marroquim de Souza and Sonia Julia Sulzbeck Villalobos. The report tried to contact them, but failed.
Despite having been appointed by former minister Bento Albuquerque, Murilo and Sônia have a more independent stance in the current administration. He is a geologist with a master’s degree in geophysics from the University of Houston, Texas, in the United States and has worked in this area in more than 20 countries in America, Europe, Africa and Asia. She holds a bachelor’s degree in public administration, a master’s degree in business administration with a specialization in finance from Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) and is a professor at Instituto de Ensino e Pesquisa (Insper).
Internal resistance and external protests
In addition to internal resistance, Paes de Andrade faces external protests. The Single Federation of Oil Workers (FUP) and the National Association of Petroleum Workers Minority Shareholders of Petrobras (Anapetro) have entered the Securities and Exchange Commission against the executive and are rehearsing new legal actions if his name is confirmed in the command of the state-owned company.
The gap for this is a consideration by Petrobras’ Compliance department, which assessed that Paes de Andrade does not meet all the required requirements. The Compliance team indicated gaps in Andrade’s training and experience to take over as CEOs of other oil companies in the world.
Even with the exception, last Friday (24), the name of Paes de Andrade received the approval of the Eligibility Committee (Celeg) – composed of three directors and two independent members of the collegiate – to assume the presidency of the state-owned company.
Caio Paes de Andrade has a degree in Social Communication from Universidade Paulista, a postgraduate degree in Administration and Management from Harvard University and a master’s degree in Business Administration from Duke University, but international degrees are not validated by the Ministry of Education.
Next steps
The rite of election of Caio Paes de Andrade is similar to that of José Mauro Coelho. The difference is that in the case of Paes de Andrade, the name was not endorsed by the shareholders via the Assembly, precisely because of the resignation.
If elected by the Council, Caio Paes de Andrade will be the fourth president to take over Petrobras under the management of Jair Bolsonaro (PL). The current Secretary of Debureaucratization of the Ministry of Economy must have as one of his first acts the reform at the highest level, exchanging directors held by his three predecessors.
The signing of the term of investiture is taken for granted this Monday afternoon by high-level sources at Petrobras. It remains to be seen whether he will want to hold a ceremony, as his predecessor did.
pricing policy
After the Celeg meeting, Petrobras released the minutes of the meeting. According to the state-owned company, Paes de Andrade denied having received any “specific or general guidance” from the federal government, the company’s majority shareholder, to change the fuel price policy. The statement was given in writing, after he had been invited for a face-to-face interview with Celeg and had declined the meeting. However, he accepted to answer questions sent by the group.
Paes de Andrade’s answer was narrated at the Celeg meeting. He received three votes in favor and one against, coming from the president of Celeg, Francisco Petros, representing minority shareholders.
“Regarding the candidate’s management capacity, with due respect, I did not find in the available documents the support that would allow me to form a conviction favorable to the candidate”, said Petros.
The counselor pointed out that Andrade has a degree in social communication, an area not linked to Petrobras’ activities. In addition, he pointed out that the candidate’s experience was in companies with less complexity than the state-owned company.
Before the analysis, the executive manager of Human Resources at Petrobras, Juliano Mesquita Loureiro, pointed out that training would not be a final impediment, since the legislation allows a case-by-case analysis.
It was also raised that Caio Paes de Andrade does not have ten years of experience in leadership, preferably in the business or related area. The other three Celeg members understood that the word “preferably” would also not block the name of the nominee.
CNN asked Caio Mario Paes de Andrade about the gaps in his resume, but he declined to comment.
Source: CNN Brasil
