Distressed Veteran Tanure Now Top Shareholder of Brazil’s Light

Nelson Tanure, who has made a career of investing in distressed assets in Brazil including telecom company Oi SA, has become the top shareholder in Rio de Janeiro power utility Light SA as it begins navigating bankruptcy protection and seeks to restructure debt.

Power lines in a favela in the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Thursday, April 27, 2023.

Photographer: Pedro Prado/Bloomberg

Tanure now holds a 21.8% stake in Light through the fund WNT Gestora de Recursos Ltda., according to a company filing late Wednesday. In recent weeks he had begun to buy shares in the company and now tops Ronaldo Cezar Coelho, who has about 20%, as the largest investor. Billionaire Carlos Sicupira is the ...