Marcelo Odebrecht has resigned as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Odebrecht S.A.,a Brazilian group consisting of diversified businesses.

After 6 months in detention and given the developments in his court case, Marcelo Odebrecht, on 11 December, decided to formally resign from his post as President and CEO of Odebrecht S.A., as well as the chairmanship of Braskem, Odebrecht Oil & Gas, Odebrecht Real Estate Developments and Odebrecht Environmental.

The Board of Odebrecht S.A. has officialized the appointment of Newton de Souza, who will continue as President and CEO of Odebrecht S.A. and Chairman of the above mentioned companies.

Odebrecht is a Brazilian conglomerate consisting of diversified businesses in the fields of engineering, construction, chemicals and petrochemicals. The company was founded in 1944 in Salvador da Bahia by Norberto Odebrecht, and is now present in South America, Central America, North America, the Caribbean, Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

The firm is a holding company for Construtora Norberto Odebrecht S.A., the biggest engineering and contracting company in Latin America, and Braskem S.A., the largest petrochemicals producer in Latin America and one of Brazil's five largest private-sector manufacturing companies.