By Brazil Stock Guide – Brazilian banks suffered a legal defeat after Justice Raul Araújo of Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice (STJ) rejected an emergency request seeking to transfer Ambipar Participações e Empreendimentos SA’s judicial recovery proceedings from Rio de Janeiro to São Paulo. The ruling keeps the case under the jurisdiction of Rio de Janeiro’s 3rd Business Court and reinforces decisions already issued by lower courts.
The banks had filed a request for anticipatory relief aimed at suspending monocratic decisions issued in appeals currently under review by the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice. They argued that Ambipar’s main decision-making, financial and operational center is located in São Paulo and accused the company of engaging in forum shopping to secure a more favorable venue.
Araújo ruled that the request was procedurally inadmissible. He stressed that the STJ only gains jurisdiction to grant provisional relief after a special appeal has been formally admitted by the lower court, which has not occurred in this case. According to the justice, the exceptional circumstances that could justify early intervention — such as a clearly unlawful or manifestly aberrant decision — were not present.
In his decision, Araújo highlighted that the challenged rulings were issued at the appellate level and that ordinary judicial remedies have not yet been exhausted. Intervening at this stage, he said, would violate procedural rules and the principle of exhaustion of lower instances.
The justice also rejected the banks’ claim that Rio de Janeiro lacks jurisdiction. He reaffirmed that Brazil’s insolvency law assigns jurisdiction based on the debtor’s principal place of business, understood by case law as the location where the largest volume of business and core governance activities are concentrated.
According to the records examined by lower courts, Ambipar’s operations in Rio de Janeiro generate higher revenue, profit margins and economic concentration than those in São Paulo. These factors were deemed sufficient to establish Rio as the appropriate forum for the judicial recovery process.
Araújo further dismissed arguments of imminent and irreparable harm to creditors, noting that the proceedings are still at an early stage and that the risk of a legally irreversible “fait accompli” does not yet apply. The decision leaves open the possibility of further review by the state court’s collegiate body but, for now, firmly maintains the judicial recovery of Ambipar in Rio de Janeiro.