Regions

A shareholder of OGX Petroleo & Gas Participacoes requested a Rio de Janeiro court to freeze asset sales and payments to firms linked with billionaire controller Eike Batista.

The request was transmitted by Jorge Lobo, a Rio lawyer, on behalf of his son Marcio Lobo, according to the filing as reported by Bloomberg News. Marcio Lobo who holds around 84,000 shares in the oil company.  Verification of the filings in the records at Rio's Fifth Business Court could not be done immediately , the news source said.

The press departments of OGX in Rio refused to comment on the court request, the source said. Batista announced last month that OGX and EBX, an umbrella group for Batista's  commodities and energy units, has restructured its debt and has only long-dated maturities. Batista previously stated that the restructuring was proof of EBX's commitment toward its commitments with its stakeholders.

"OGX's situation is of dramatic pre-insolvency," according to an email statement by Jorge Lobo. Lobo further cited Fitch Rating's and Standard & Poor's current CCC ratings as obvious examples of the firm's financial problems.