After cutting its debts, in a delicate process of financial restructuring, Odebrecht Engenharia & Construção has just taken decisive steps towards fully resuming its business in the post-Lava Jato era.
In 2025, the construction company won – or left behind – its biggest contracts for infrastructure works in the last ten years, since it was at the center of one of the biggest scandals in the country’s history.
Odebrecht was chosen by the Motiva group (formerly CCR) to run the .
The contract with Motiva should reach R$4.5 billion. Odebrecht will work in partnership with Yellow River, a subsidiary of the Chinese group Power China.
On another front, it made the best financial proposal for , on a stretch that totals ten stations and 11 kilometers of tunnels.
Metrô (Companhia do Metropolitano de São Paulo), which will carry out this project as a state project, intended to announce the conclusion of the competition on December 8th, but postponed the deadline.
In Line 19-Celeste, the construction company has 35% and leads a consortium formed by Álya (formerly Queiroz Galvão) and the Italian company Ghella. The group beat out offers from rivals such as Andrade Gutierrez, Agis, Yellow River and Acciona.
If confirmed, in the coming weeks, the total value of contracts on the new Line 19-Celeste will reach R$13.6 billion. Works are expected to begin in 2027.
Backlog
With the Odebrecht family away from day-to-day operations, the construction company is increasing its backlog at R$14 billion this year.
Backlog is one of the most important indicators in the heavy construction segment. It means the value of contracts in execution, that is, it signals the cash flow that must still enter the contractor.
O backlog of Odebrecht went from a level of R$35 billion in 2014, at the height of large Brazilian construction companies, to R$18 billion in 2015, when the first effects of Lava Jato began to be felt.
In the following years, however, . In some years, the volume of contracts added to the backlog was less than R$1 billion.
As a result, the global number of Odebrecht employees fell from 75 thousand to 17 thousand between 2015 and 2024. Odebrecht sold concessions at airports and highways, and had to take care of its debts.
According to the company’s latest annual report, around 70% of its revenues came from abroad in 2024, mainly from works in Angola.
An intricate financial restructuring process was completed, reducing its total debts from $4 billion to $120 million.
Another project whose results should be confirmed in the coming weeks is the Roberto Marinho road complex and the linear park along the Água Espraiada stream.
The project, tendered by the city of São Paulo, received offers from several companies. The consortium formed by Odebrecht and Álya presented the best proposal: R$1.8 billion.
In Brazil, Odebrecht continued to carry out some important projects, such as:
In Odebrecht’s internal assessment, however, there was a lack of a symbolic project to mark the recovery. Something like the Santo Antônio hydroelectric plant, on the Madeira River (RO), or the renovation of the Galeão international airport (RJ), in the last decade.
The contractor dreamed of the PPP (public-private partnership) of the Santos-Guarujá immersed tunnel for this. At the last minute, complaining about the lack of financing from public banks, he ended up withdrawing from the auction.
In the market, there is talk that it could end up being subcontracted by the Portuguese group Mota-Engil, which won the competition in September.
The contracts for Line 19-Celeste, due to their size and mobilization of construction sites in the middle of urban territory, have these characteristics for the company.
Therefore, its executives call this movement “back on track”, in reference to Odebrecht’s history in the sector.
It is an area of strong symbolism for the construction company, which has already built 263 kilometers of subways, in Brazil and abroad – including lines in Lisbon, Caracas, Miami and Panama City.
In 2025, Odebrecht had already guaranteed participation in consortia that are carrying out work to expand Line 1 of the Salvador subway and the completion of the Gávea station on Line 4 of the Rio de Janeiro subway.
