Brazil's Petrobras president denies claims company could be privatized

The president of Brazilian state-owned company, Petrobras, said Monday that there was no intent to privatize the company, as left-wing groups have been stating.

"I feel that Brazilian society is not ready to discuss...the privatization of Petrobras," said Pedro Parente, in an interview published Monday by the daily Folha de Sao Paulo.

Parente, who has been in charge of Petrobras for two months, said that one of the reasons for the crisis embroiling Brazil's largest company "is that dishonest executives were deliberately elected to lead the company," which saw at least 2 billion U.S. dollars embezzled between 2004 and 2014.

While dismissing claims of privatization, the president said that no "dogma" would protect any assets from being sold and recognized that Petrobras was analyzing certain alliances with the private sector.

"Should we open up the majority of control (of subsidiaries to the private sector), it would be a form of co-control," Parente told the newspaper.

He listed three conditions for such deals being made, "maximizing the value of assets, preserving the company's vertical integration, and maintaining strategic interests."

Parente said that he found "a very sick company. A year and a half ago, there was a deep hemorrhage. It had no balance and was on the verge of needing a debt rescue. The management team at the time managed to stop the hemorrhage but there are still complicated problems."

Petrobras is in the midst of a plan to sell off numerous assets in order to pay down its debt and face its severe financial problems. However, this divestment campaign has been criticized by unions and left-wing parties, saying that it profited private companies and went against Brazil's interests. Enditem