Eike's mining company's losses were 368 times greater in 2012.
MMX lost R$792,4 million year-to-date; the company attributes this to the price of iron ore, which reached its lowest level since the annual pricing system was abandoned, reaching US$88,50/metric ton.
247 – MMX (MMXM3), the mining company of Eike Batista's EBX group, closed 2012 with a loss of R$ 792,4 million – an increase of 36.892% compared to 2011 (R$ 2,1 million).
Revenue fell 22% to R$850,6 million in 2012. The company attributes this to the price of iron ore, which reached its lowest level since the annual pricing system was abandoned, falling to US$88,50 per metric ton.
Last week, MMX announced that it had abandoned an investment project in Chile, deeming it less attractive in terms of financial return, according to a relevant fact.
The project cancellation implies an accounting write-down of 224 million reais in the 2012 balance sheet, the company added.
The loss comes at a time of crisis of confidence in the capital markets regarding Eike Batista's group. The truth is that the businessman is no longer the same. On March 4th, Forbes magazine's list of the world's richest men showed a drop of 93 positions for the Brazilian investor, who went from being the 7th richest man in the world, as he was last year, to becoming 'only' the hundredth. He suffered an estimated loss of US$19,4 billion, the largest among the super-rich, due to the continued plummeting of his companies' shares on the Brazilian stock exchange. The top spot on the list, a position Eike promised to reach, remains held by Mexican Carlos Slim.
Almost two weeks ago, Eike Batista closed a deal with BTG Pactual, owned by banker André Esteves, seen by investors as a "private bailout," larger than he could obtain from BNDES. The state-owned bank has invested more than R$ 8,1 billion in the group's companies and has a stake in MMX, MPX (energy), CCX (coal), OGX (oil), and SIX (semiconductors).