- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) names Luciano Coutinho, who has presided over development bank BNDES since 2007, to replace former Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega as the company's new Chairman.
- Coutinho has been a PBR board member since 2008 and is considered a long-time ally of Brazil's Pres. Rousseff.
- "The market wanted someone more independent, detached from the government... It’s more of the same, a bad choice," says the head of Rio-based consultancy CBIE.
- The appointment, which must be ratified at the company’s next shareholders meeting, comes less than two months after Aldemir Bendine, a state banker backed by Rousseff’s party, replaced Maria das Gracas Foster as CEO.