UPDATE 2-Telemar president to exit, market awaits details
Reuters, 07/20/2001 00:33
(Recasts with company statement, background)
SAO PAULO, July 19 (Reuters) - Telemar (SAO:TNLP4) (NYSE:TNE), Brazil's biggest fixed-line phone operator, said on Thursday it's president was leaving the company, but conflicting signals left market players clamouring for more information.
A couple of hours after the market close, a company spokesman said Manoel Horacio da Silva had been sacked and the reason and name of his replacement would be given on Friday. The spokesman declined giving further details.
Horacio da Silva could not be reached for comment.
But a Telemar statement, released late at night, said Horacio da Silva had agreed to leave, now that a restructure was over, to give the firm time to gear up for the deregulation of the Brazilian telecommunication market in 2002.
"The new phase of competition in the Brazilian telephone market, which will be completely deregulated next year, was a determining factor in establishing another profile of operation for the company," it said.
It added that "change was anticipated at the request of Manoel Horacio, with the objective of easing the preparation of a new executive for the start of the new phase of competition."
The statement said the controlling shareholders and Horacio da Silva, who took the helm in February 1999, had not yet decided who would be the next company president.
Telemar announced plans last month for its Rio de Janeiro-based subsidiary Telerj (SAO:TERJ4) to incorporate 15 of the parent company's other regional telephone operating units.
The company has said the restructure of the 16 units under one roof could bring annual cost savings of between $17 million and $30 million.
MORE DETAILS NEEDED
BES Securities telecommunications analyst Carolina Gava said talk that Horacio da Silva was on the way out had begun to circulate in the market after the close, but more information was needed to determine the impact.
"Depending on his replacement, this could be neutral or even negative for the shares of the company," she said in a research note prepared for release on Friday. "Manoel Horacio has done a good job up to now."
One local telecommunications media site, Telecom.online, said vice president Jose Fernandes Pauletti would take the helm temporarily. Nobody at Telemar could be reached to comment on that report.
News of Horacio da Silva's exit came after the market close. Telemar stock, the heaviest-weighted on Brazil's benchmark Bovespa (INDEX:$BVSP.X) stock index, lost 1.6 percent to 33.19 reais on Thursday. The index ended 0.2 percent weaker.
Horacio da Silva has in the past held senior jobs at world No.1 iron ore producer Cia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) (SAO:VALE5) and major Brazilian steelmaker Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) (SAO:CSNA3) (NYSE:SID).
He had been mentioned in local media as a possible chief of CVRD, before the head of the mining company's board, Roger Agnelli, took the top job last Thursday. saopaulo.newsroom@reuters.com))
Copyright 2001, Reuters News Service |
