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Strategies & Market Trends : Telebras (TBH) & Brazil -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: EPS who wrote (6660)	8/13/1998 11:44:00 PM
From: Alan Palange	Respond to of 22640

BRASILIA, Aug 13 (Reuters) - With the dust barely settled after the $19 billion privatization of Telebras two weeks ago, top international telecommunications companies are turning to the next big opportunity in the Brazilian telecom sector. Executives of leading operators and equipment manufacturers from Europe, the United States and Brazil gathered in the Brazilian capital Thursday for a run-down on how the government plans to sell "mirror" concessions to compete with Telebras. Among the firms represented at the packed public hearing were operators Bellsouth Corp. <BLS.N>, France Telecom <FTE.PA> and GTE Corp. <GTE.N> plus a host of technology companies like Qualcomm Inc. <QCOM.O>, Motorola Inc. <MOT.N> and Northern Telecom Ltd. <NTL.TO>. "The success of the Telebras <TELB4.SA><TBR.N> privatization has generated a lot of interest in what's going on in Brazil's telecommunications sector," said Renato Guerreiro, president of new industry regulator ANATEL. Under Brazil's plan to promote competition in the telecommunications sector, the government will auction three, regional, fixed-line concessions to compete with each of the three fixed-line Telebras subsidiaries sold July 29. Also for sale is a concession to compete with the former Telebras long-distance and international carrier Embrace. ANATEL plans to sell the licenses by the end of the year. Unlike the sale of Telebras' units, which went to the highest bidders, groups seeking to buy the concessions will be judged principally on their proposals for installing new lines. Although the mirror companies will have to start from scratch, they will not be subject to the strict expansion targets the new buyers of Telebras have to observe. "That's a big difference. The targets are achievable, but they are ambitious," said Jose Pees Barchan, digital cellular sales manager with Hughes Network Systems. He said Hughes was considering participating in a group to buyone of the mirror concessions. Other interested parties attending Thursday's hearing included BellSouth Corp. The U.S. carrier hit the headlines in Brazil last year when it and partners paid $2.45 billion, more than four times the asking price, for a cellophane license in Sao Paulo city. The group also runs cellular operations in Brazil's northeast. BellSouth surprised many market-watchers again last month when it opted not to take part in the Telebras auction. "We did our analysis and we thought it better to wait," said Robert Meer, BellSouth's chief strategist for Brazil. He declined to comment on whether or not BellSouth would be bidding for the mirrors. "Some companies prefer to start up from scratch, installing their own networks. We've had experience in the latter but that doesn't mean that is our preference," Meer said. But one of BellSouth's partners in the cellophane ventures said the companies were likely to line up again for the mirrors. "There is a strong possibility that the same group that won Sao Paulo will get together again," said Mario Caesar Pareira de Ara, a director of Brazilian telecommunications equipment manufacturer Splice do Brasil. Splice is a minority partner in both the cellular ventures led by BellSouth and Brazilian bank Banco Sara. De Ara said the group would "probably" be most interested in the mirror concession covering Sao Paulo state. A representative of GTE said his company was interested in the mirror concessions and wanted a foothold in Brazil to tie together its existing operations in Argentina and Venezuela. "Brazil is an important piece because it is between the two and, clearly, is much bigger than both of them," said Jose Eugenie Guiscard Ferrara, president of GTE Brazil. REUTERS Rtr 21:50 08-13-98 Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service

To: EPS who wrote (6660)	8/14/1998 4:42:00 AM
From: Steve Fancy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22640

Well, lookin' like tomorrow may be shaping up to be a pretty good day...hard to believe. I think they may try and take 'er up over 100. Now, some news on those listings please. sf

To: EPS who wrote (6660)	8/14/1998 7:24:00 AM
From: EPS	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22640

Friday August 14, 7:01 am Eastern Time FOCUS-Yeltsin soothes Euro stocks, outlook mixed (Updating at midday) By Richard Baum LONDON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Wounded European stocks drew comfort from big gains in Russian and Hong Kong markets and hopes for a rally on Wall Street to move higher on Friday, but concern shares have further to fall persisted despite four weeks of losses. Russian President Boris Yeltsin's vow not to devalue the rouble soothed a fear that routed global markets on Thursday, giving traders a temporary respite from worries that emerging market problems will trigger a global economic slowdown. The anticipated U.S. rally ''will be a welcome relief but no-one believes this is the end of the correction,'' said a trader of U.S. stocks in London. A strengthening of the yen on increased expectations of Japanese intervention contributed to the calmer mood, despite Tokyo stocks falling on lingering worries about Japan's banking system and an overnight fall in U.S. stocks. Bonds weakened as demand for safe haven investments fell. ------------------------------------------------------------ MARKET PRICES AT 1057 GMT MARK 1.7899/79 YEN 144.85/90 STERLING 1.6246/56 GOLD $285.00/285.50 +1.85 (pvs PM fix) BRENT $12.05 -0.04 FTSE 5490.3 +90.80 CAC 4,016.59 +64.90 X-DAX 5459.18 +104.15 ------------------------------------------------------------ Share trading was nervous amid continuing fears of a global equity sell-off and before the release of U.S. producer price data at 1230 GMT. At 1140 GMT, London's FTSE 100 share index was up 1.5 percent, the German DAX index rose 1.9 percent and the CAC 40 in Paris was up 1.6 percent. All other leading European stock indexes also rose, led by a 2.7 percent advance in Copenhagen. U.S. stock futures, closely watched by European traders for an indication of the outlook for Wall Street, were 0.9 percent higher. Dealers expected the Dow Industrials to open 50-60 points higher after a 93 point fall on Thursday. Among the biggest risers in Europe were banks, whose loans to Asia and Russia would be hit by devaluations. There were also further advances by oil shares in the wake of British Petroleum Co's merger this week with Amoco. But the gains were small in the context of recent losses. Since reaching all-time highs four-weeks ago, the FTSE and DAX have fallen more than 12 percent and the CAC almost 10 percent. The Dow, which has led the bull market for three and a half years, has given up 9.7 percent. Friday's rally came on the coat-tails of an 8.5 percent advance in Hong Kong stocks and a 7.2 percent gain in Russia. Both markets slumped on Thursday as investors focussed on devaluation risks. Yelstin's defiant response to a call on Thursday by international financier George Soros for a devaluation appeared to pacify the markets, at least for now. ''There will be no devaluation -- that's firm and definite,'' the president told reporters. After one of their blackest days on Thursday, Russian markets recovered some of their poise as yields on short-term GKO treasury bills narrowed markedly. But the rouble was quoted at 6.37 to the dollar, well outside the central bank's trading mini-band. The turmoil in Russia's markets is due to Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko's failure to convince investors he can pull the country back from financial collapse, analysts say. ''Basically there is no confidence...in the Russian government being able to pursue and push very hard its anti-crisis measures,'' said Caren Gaboutchian, an economist at ING Barings. Devaluation talk also cooled in Hong Kong, where the firmer yen helped lift the market off a five-year low. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority said it intervened in the stock and futures market to foil speculators. Hong Kong Financial Secretary Donald Tsang said the government would intervene in the markets if the Hong Kong dollar came under repeated attack, and the government had ample resources to defend the currency. Speculative attacks on the Hong Kong dollar and fears that China would devalue its currency to keep its exports competitive have raised the prospect of a new round of devaluations across Asia. That would hurt export markets for European and U.S. companies and increase competition from imports in their domestic markets. A slight strengthening of the yen in recent days has eased the pressure for competitive devaluations, and the currency continued to firm on Friday. Japan's top financial diplomat Eisuke Sakakibara said he discussed currency issues in a meeting with Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, but declined to say if they discussed the possibility of currency intervention. Earlier he said Japan was looking for a chance to intervene and boost the yen. The prospect of intervention lifted the yen to 144.88 to the dollar from 145.13 on Thursday. Sakakibara said he thought the yen had hit the bottom at 147 and was now rebounding. ''The market's just so nervous, this being Friday,'' said Dave Eddy, chief foreign exchange trader at Sumitomo Bank in London. ''Sakakibara may have been hoping that with the dollar coming off as worries about Russia ease, it might be a good time to follow this up (with verbal intervention).'' Bonds eased as the yen's gains helped to dry up some of the safe-haven flows that propelled debt prices to record highs this week. U.S. Treasuries, German Bunds and British gilts were all a touch weaker.