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To: BishopsChild who wrote (3852)	7/28/1998 6:01:00 PM
From: Netnut7	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9096

I get it. This is South America. Betcha someone gets paid off big time and the auctions go through either this week or next week. Tuesday July 28, 5:40 pm Eastern Time Brazil court order on Telebras seen minor hurdle SAO PAULO, July 28 (Reuters) - A decision by a Brazilian court judge on Tuesday to suspend the auction of Telebras (TELB4.SA) might delay the company's sale, but is not expected to be a major hurdle in the privatization of the nation's telecom giant, analysts said.''I believe the government has the right tools to combat these judicial problems,'' said Fabio Nazari, an analyst at investment bank Banco Fonte Cindam. A Brazilian judge in the southern state of Parana issued an injunction on Tuesday suspending the sale of Telebras (TBR - news), which was slated to take place on Wednesday at 1000 local time/0900 EDT/1300 GMT on the Rio de Janeiro stock exchange. ''I think the auction could still go ahead tomorrow, or at least this week, in which case the results won't be in any way affected,'' Nazari added. The lawsuit was brought by independent federal attorneys who alleged irregularities in the Telebras privatization process. Brazil planned to sell the 12 units carved out of Telebras for up to $14 billion at auction. Three fixed-line operators, Telebras' long-distance carrier Embratel and eight cellular phone companies were slated to go on the block. In a separate event on Tuesday, a Rio de Janeiro court issued an injunction to block only the sale of long-distance carrier Embratel. A member of the government's legal team said its lawyers would seek to overturn the two injunctions in federal courts as quickly as possible. Analysts said they were not surprised by the court decision on Tuesday, given the strong opposition to the sale sponsored by left-wing political parties and phone workers unions. ''It was kind of expected that we'd have some last-minute things pulled out of a hat,'' said Ray Ligouri, an analyst for Merrill Lynch & Co. in New York. Ligouri said the court injunction could hold up the Telebras sale for up to two weeks without undermining investor interest in Latin America's biggest state asset sale to date. ''But of course, we're still optimistic that it could go through tomorrow,'' Ligouri said. Sergio Goldman, a telecom analyst at Banco Santander, agreed, adding that the injuctions were widely expected not only by the financial community but also by the govenrment itself. ''Not only analysts, but the government, and firms interested in buying Telebras were aware that this trouble with court orders could happen,'' Goldman said. Although no one analyst believed the injunctions would cause any long-term damage to Telebras' sell-off, they added the govenrment would have to struggle to get the telecom giant privatized. They said more lawsuits were expected to be filed over the next few days even if government lawyers managed to overturn the current injunctions blocking the sale before auction time tomorrow. ''It seems we're going to have hundreds of these nuisances,'' Ligouri said.Sixty suits seeking to block the Telebras sale have been filed in courts across Brazil by trade unions and other oponents of the privatization. Of that total, 11 have been thrown out, a government spokesman said. Brazil said a total of 34 consortia has registered to bid on the Telebras. International telecom heavyweights such as Telefnica de Espaa (TEF.MC), MCI Communications Corp. (MCIC - news), Sprint Corp. (FON - news) and Telecom Italia (TIT.MI) are expected to be among the bidders.

To: BishopsChild who wrote (3852)	7/29/1998 2:26:00 AM
From: pom	Respond to of 9096

look good for sale on today Wednesday July 29, 1:04 am Eastern Time Brazil high court nixes bid to halt Telebras sale BRASILIA, July 28 (Reuters) - Brazil's highest court, the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), rejected a request from a trade union to halt Wednesday's scheduled privatization of telephone company Telebras (TBR - news; TELB4.SA), a court official said. An STF spokesman said the court's president Celso de Mello rejected the application from a telecommunications workers union for an injunction. Other courts have been more favorable to opponents of the privatization. Government lawyers are trying to overturn two injunctions blocking the sale of Telebras' 12 subsidiaries and another court order suspending the privatization of just Embratel. Officials have said they are confident the auction will take place on Wednesday.