The recent bankruptcy filing by Ambipar, a leading environmental management company in Brazil, has raised concerns in the market and brought to the forefront, once again, the debate about the importance and function of corporate restructuring mechanisms. Announced on October 20, 2025, the filing, which extends to the United States under Chapter 11, should not be seen merely as a sign of crisis, but as the activation of an essential instrument for economic stability and legal certainty in times of adversity.

Far from being a death certificate, judicial reorganization, governed in Brazil by Law No. 11.101/2005, is a modern tool that primarily aims at preserving the company and its social function. In a scenario of acute crisis, such as that faced by Ambipar – triggered by “indications of irregularities” and a sudden crisis of confidence that led to the anticipation of billions in debt – the alternative to judicial reorganization would be chaos. Creditors, in a disorderly race to secure their receivables, could paralyze the company's operations, leading to its liquidation and, consequently, to job losses, disruption of the production chain, and a cascading negative economic impact.

It is in this context that judicial reorganization demonstrates its value. By centralizing discussions in a universal court and suspending individual executions, the law creates an organized and predictable negotiation environment. This provides the necessary legal security for the struggling company to breathe, investigate the causes of its crisis – in the case of Ambipar, by hiring FTI Consulting to investigate the conduct of its former financial management – and propose a viable restructuring plan to its creditors (Forbes, October 21, 2025). The goal is not default, but reorganization. The legislation seeks to balance the interests of all parties, allowing the company to continue generating value, maintaining jobs, and driving the economy, while seeking a sustainable solution to its obligations.

The principle of business preservation, a cornerstone of Law 11.101/2005, recognizes that the value of a company in operation transcends its balance sheet. As already highlighted by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), maintaining the business can imply "significant job retention, generation of new jobs, economic activity, maintenance of the financial health of suppliers, among numerous other gains" (STJ). This view reflects a maturity in business law, which understands the company as a living organism and fundamental to the social fabric.

Ambipar's move to also resort to Chapter 11 in the United States reinforces the globalized nature of business operations and the need for cross-border restructuring mechanisms. Like Brazilian law, Chapter 11 allows a company to continue operating while negotiating with its creditors, demonstrating an international alignment on the importance of avoiding the premature liquidation of viable companies.

In short, the Ambipar case is an emblematic example of the essential nature of judicial reorganization. In a moment of serious crisis, the company resorted to a mechanism that provides stability to reorganize and overcome its problems, under the aegis of the law and with the supervision of the Judiciary. For the market and for society, judicial reorganization represents the prevalence of rationality over panic, of negotiation over execution, and, above all, of the preservation of the company's value and social function over its extinction. It is an instrument of legal certainty that, ultimately, strengthens the business environment and the economy as a whole.

Ambipar, a leading environmental management company in Brazil, has filed for bankruptcy protection both domestically and in the United States, highlighting the necessity and essential nature of corporate restructuring.