Naguib Sawiris is still interested in Brazilian telecommunications company Oi SA, saying it has potential once its debt is restructured — and provided the company gets a capital injection to back a viable business plan, Bloomberg quoted Sawiris as saying on Monday. Sawiris’ comments come on the heels of Oi filing for bankruptcy protection for USD 19 bn in debt on Monday — a Brazilian record — after failing to reach an agreement with creditors, according to a separate Bloomberg article. The filing comes 10 days after Bayard Gontijo resigned as the company’s CEO after disagreeing with some board members on how to proceed on negotiations with debt holders. Oi sought protection from creditors so it could keep serving customers, the company said in its filing on Monday. Talks with creditors stalled last week after some board members disagreed with a plan by bondholders to swap debt for equity, giving them 95% of the company and leaving current shareholders with a 5% stake. “Oi needs a shareholder with a strong telecoms background to solve their operational problems in addition to their financial ones,” Sawiris said by phone. We had reported last week that Sawiris was interested in acquiring Oi.