WeWork’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy and leases in Brazil

Nicholas Minoru Fernandes Yoshino, Associate - Legal Affairs, GTIS Partners, Brazil

Cross-border effects of bankruptcy procedures in the U.S. gained a new chapter in 2023, when WeWork Group filed for Chapter 11. WeWork has since claimed that this reorganization would not affect the company’s operations outside the U.S. However, as revealed during the Chapter 11 proceedings, WeWork’s leases in Brazil have indeed been affected, but in a less obvious manner. In this article we explore how the inclusion of the guarantor of WeWork’s Brazilian leases - a U.S. based entity - under the Chapter 11 bankruptcy left leases in Brazil unsecured. We further analyze the legal implications of this approach under Brazilian law and assess what remedies are available to Brazilian landlords under these circumstances.

Nicholas Minoru Fernandes Yoshino joined GTIS Partners on December 2021 and is currently an Associate to the legal department. Prior to joining GTIS Partners in 2021, Mr. Yoshino was a lawyer at Negrão e Ferrari Advogados (NFA) and, before that, at Stocche Forbes Advogados, where he specialized in real estate transactions. Mr. Yoshino graduated from Fundação Getúlio Vargas’s Law School (FGV) in 2018.

With broad expertise in investing, structuring, design, development and asset management, GTIS professionals oversee projects in residential, industrial/logistics, office and hospitality from concept to completion. Today, GTIS is established as a leading investor in the US residential sector, with a portfolio footprint in more than 35 major markets located predominantly in the Sunbelt. In Brazil, GTIS is among the largest private real estate investors with significant experience in the acquisition and development of iconic office, residential, industrial and hospitality assets concentrated in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the most liquid markets in Brazil. As of Q3 2023, GTIS has committed over $6 billion of equity capital or approximately $19 billion in total project cost across the US and Brazil.