Braskem SA, Latin America’s biggest petrochemical maker, is an unlikely contender to be the world’s top-performing emerging-market stock.
Not only is it based in Brazil, which is suffering through its longest recession since the 1930s, but its two controlling shareholders — Petroleo Brasileiro SA and Odebrecht SA — are mired in scandal. Odebrecht’s former chief executive officer has been stuck in jail for more than five months on allegations he took part in a pay-to-play scheme to win lucrative contracts with the state oil giant known as Petrobras. He has denied the allegations. Even Braskem has been dragged into the investigation. Its Sao Paulo office was searched in June by federal police as part of the Odebrecht probe.
Brazil Energy Insight 
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