By Brazil Stock Guide — Raízen closed its 2025/26 crop year with a net loss of R$27.1 billion, one of the largest ever reported by a publicly traded Brazilian company in nominal terms, placing the company’s crisis among the major accounting shocks in Brazil’s corporate history.
The results were released on Monday, June 29. Raízen’s fiscal year ended in March.
The loss does not surpass the historic cases of Vale and Petrobras in 2015, when the two Brazilian giants reported losses of R$44.2 billion and R$34.8 billion, respectively. But it is large enough to put Raízen among the biggest corporate losses ever recorded in the country — and it exceeds, in nominal terms, Petrobras’s R$21.6 billion loss in 2014, when the early impact of the Lava Jato corruption probe first hit the company’s financial statements.
In Raízen’s case, the loss was amplified by a combination of a R$22.5 billion impairment charge, higher financial expenses, asset write-downs and costs related to the company’s out-of-court restructuring process. Raízen ended the period with net debt of R$58.2 billion and leverage of 5.2 times adjusted EBITDA, up from 3.2 times a year earlier.
The picture is particularly harsh because adjusted operating performance did not collapse to the same extent. Annual adjusted EBITDA came in at R$11.3 billion, down only 2.3% from the previous year. But reported EBITDA fell 92%, to R$1.1 billion, highlighting the gap between the company’s operational recovery narrative and the damage caused by its balance sheet.
Raízen is trying to frame the moment as a structural turnaround. In its earnings report, management said the company cut costs and expenses by about R$1 billion, reduced capital expenditures by R$3.3 billion and advanced its portfolio simplification plan, with an estimated R$12 billion positive impact on its financial position.
But the core of the story is recapitalization.
Raízen’s out-of-court restructuring plan includes a R$3.5 billion capital injection from Shell, a possible R$500 million contribution from Aguassanta, and the conversion of 45% of restructured claims into equity, through units composed of one common share and one preferred share issued by Raízen. The remaining 55% of the claims would be replaced, refinanced or amended through new debt instruments.
There are, in effect, two Raízens inside the same balance sheet. One is the operating company, still owner of major assets across fuels, sugar, ethanol and bioenergy. The other is a business with a damaged capital structure, high financial costs and an urgent need for balance-sheet repair.
The main positive counterpoint came from fuel distribution in Brazil. The segment reported R$5.7 billion in adjusted EBITDA for the crop year, up 35.5%, supported by higher volumes and stronger margins. The Brazilian fuel distribution unit helped offset weakness in sugar, ethanol and bioenergy, where lower crushing volumes, weaker sugar prices and reduced production weighed on results.
Still, Raízen is trying to show that there is a viable business underneath the debt. The R$27 billion loss shows that restructuring is no longer just a financial option. It has become a condition for preserving the company.
For investors, the key question is no longer only how much EBITDA Raízen can generate in a normalized cycle. It is how much of that value will remain with current shareholders after debt is converted into equity, controlling shareholders inject new capital and assets are reorganized.
The multibillion-real loss turns Raízen into one of the most emblematic cases of Brazil’s current deleveraging cycle: a strategic company, backed by strong shareholders, with relevant operations — but with a balance sheet that has become too heavy to be fixed by operational efficiency alone.