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

To: Jerry A. Laska who wrote (8360)	9/21/1998 4:07:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 22640

Hey Jerry, welcome back. Hope you didn't get whacked as badly as I did here. Luckily been making a little money on some short term trades and one of my biotechs has been going through the roof. Slightly disappointed on the first day of trading, but hoping we're just seeing a delayed reaction...kinda like the greenspan speach last week. Just our luck they split the co's on the day we broadcast 4 hours of Clinton sex talk. After watching the futures slowly tank last night, can't believe too many folks were ready to throw dollars at Brazil this morning. Hopefully good news on Japan tonight/tomorrow. I actually picked up some cheap calls on Sony. Looked at Honda, but seemed much more thinly traded than Sony. Considered TBR calls, but am gonna give it another day too see where life takes us. 3com reports tomorrow, this oughta be a biggie going into Wednesday. Good luck and glad to see ya around again. sf

To: Jerry A. Laska who wrote (8360)	9/21/1998 4:17:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 22640

Telebras Spinoffs See Tepid 1st Day Of Trading In Brazil By MARGARITA PALATNIK Dow Jones Newswires NEW YORK -- The debut of trading in Brazil Monday of spinoffs of Brazilian holding Telecomunicacoes Brasileiras SA (TBR), known as Telebras, faced an indifferent reception from investors. Market observers said that a bad session for international markets, combined with little time to digest the scant financial information available from the spinoffs, and a wait-and-see attitude, kept investors' money in the synthetic securities that represent all 12 units. The Sao Paulo Stock Exchange offers TELB30 and TELB40, basket securities known as receipts, while Merrill Lynch has sponsored American depositary receipts known as HOLDRs (TBH). The three are meant to give market participants the choice of maintaining Telebras as the single stock they held before the company's split and privatization on July 29. "Most clients have chosen to keep the receipts, they haven't been active at all in the subsidiaries," a trader said. "But the volume in the receipts is also very light. Most firms are setting up their new spreadsheets." About 90 minutes before market closing in Brazil, Telebras preferred receipts (TELB40) were down 3.1% at 83.30 reals (BRL) ($1=BRL1.18), leading in volume traded. Dealers downplayed movements in the spinoffs, as the initial prices were set at an auction early Monday. Preferred shares in long-distance carrier Embratel Participacoes surged 94% to BRL15.50. Tele Norte Leste Participacoes fell 18% to BRL18, while Tele Centro Sul Participacoes was up 67% at BRL10. Telesp Participacoes climbed 59% to BRL30 and was among the most-traded stock on the Bovespa. Telesp Celular Participacoes rose a modest 1.9% at BRL8, on eight trades. Market participants said that a delay in the listing of the individual companies' ADRs in New York is further eroding activity in Telebras. Monday a Brazilian government official said that the listing will happen after Oct. 4 presidential elections, while Telebras issued a press release saying that registration of the 12 companies before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission isn't ready. Initially, Brazilian authorities had predicted that New York listing would occur prior to the privatization. Lately they were clinging to hopes that the units would list simultaneously in New York and Brazil. Analysts also complained about the lack of sufficient financial information from the companies. "The recently published data about the holdings was disappointing as it did not contain as much information as was originally anticipated," said Deutsche Bank in a note to investors. "If you call the companies and ask for clarifications, they tell you to fax them your questions and they say they'll get back to you within a week," echoed Fabio Nazari, telecommunications analyst at Brazilian brokerage FonteCindam. "They're still setting up their investor relations departments." -By Margarita Palatnik; 201-938-2226; margarita.palatnik@cor.dowjones.com and Stephen Wisnefski; 5511-813-1988; swisnefski@ap.org