Lucent, Nortel to Forgive 80% of Brazil Vesper Debt, Valor Says
By Romina Nicaretta
Sao Paulo, Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Ericsson AB, Lucent Technologies Inc., Nortel Networks Corp. and Harris Corp. are studying a plan to forgive as much as $960 million in debt from Brazilian telephone operator Vesper Sao Paulo SA, Valor Economico newspaper reported, without giving sources.
The four companies, which supplied Vesper with telephone equipment and software, plan to forgive about 80 percent of the company's $1.2 billion debt with them, the daily said. The debt forgiveness will allow Vesper to avoid bankruptcy, the paper said.
Qualcomm Inc. plans to pay suppliers the remaining $240 million in exchange for the control of Vesper, Valor reported. Qualcomm now holds 16.2 percent of Vesper, which is controlled by Velocom, the paper said.
Vesper, which provides fixed-telephone services through a wireless network, competes with Telefonica SA in Sao Paulo state, Brazil's largest telephone market. |
