Ambipar said tonight that Carlos Piani will be the new chairman of the company – a step taken by founder Tércio Borlenghi Júnior to strengthen the governance of an increasingly multinational and complex company.
“After taking care of E in ESG, I’ll take care of G more,” said Tércio, who started the company 27 years ago with a landfill and waste management operation for industries in the Ribeirão Preto region.
Tércio – who continues to be very involved in the day-to-day operations – owns 56% of the company’s capital, which has a market cap de R$ 2,2 bi.O free float it’s 44%.
The rapprochement with Piani has existed for regarding two years, when Ambipar and HPX Corp. — the SPAC whose sponsors they were Piani, Rodrigo Xavier and Bernardo Hees — started talking regarding a potential strategic combination.
Those conversations culminated in the merger between HPX and Response — Ambipar’s environmental emergency response business.
Piani is being nominated board member by the board itself, joining the chair of Yuri Keiserman, the former director of M&A at Ambipar who recently became CEO of Response.
“The deal with HPX worked out so well that we decided to tighten our ties even further in order to try to fly higher,” said Tércio.
Piani brings the experience of having worked in three industries. He was CEO of Equatorial Energia, where he still serves as chairman, and led PDG Realty. At Kraft Heinz, he was vp of M&A and led the company’s operation in Canada, now a relevant market for Response.
As a partner at Vinci Partners, Piani served on the boards of Unidas, Burger King Brasil and Le Biscuit, all invested by the manager.
Since its IPO in 2020, Ambipar has made more than 40 acquisitions and today has exposure to clients from different sectors in multiple geographies. “This requires an evolution of governance to deal with this greater complexity,” Piani told the Brazil Journal.
Tércio said that, this year, “we are going to hold back on M&As, we are only looking at specific and strategic things, and we are looking more inwards.”
Ambipar shares closed the day at R$19.14, close to the historic low.
Geraldo Samor
