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

To: RockyBalboa who wrote (9725)	11/16/1998 1:35:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22640

ADR REPORT- Telebras (NYSE:TBR) spin-offs start trade Reuters, Monday, November 16, 1998 at 10:42 NEW YORK, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Spin-offs from Brazil's Telebras (SAO:TELB4) began trade on the New York Stock Exchange Monday, marking the break-up of the giant telephone company. Brazilian Communications Minister Luiz Carlos Mendonca de Barros sounded the opening bell for the session in which Telebras, a bellwether emerging market American Depositary Receipt (ADR), started trade as 12 separate companies. Telesp Participacoes (NYSE:TSP_.W), which has fixed-line services in Brazil's industrial powerhouse of Sao Paulo state, was up at 28-1/16 on a when-issued basis from an opening price of 27-3/4. Telesp is among analysts' favorites in the new ADRs. Among other Telebras spin-offs, Tele Norte Leste (NYSE:TNE_.W) slipped to 13-3/8 on a when-issued basis from an opening price of 14. Long-distance carrier Embratel (NYSE:EMT_.W) was unchanged from its opening price of 16-1/2. When-issued trade is buying and selling before the stock is actually available. The ADRs are likely to be available within a few days. Telebras' spin-offs were privatized by Brazil's reformist government in July for $19 billion. The sale attracted many of the world's biggest telecommunications companies, drawn by an underserved market of 160 million people. Mendonca de Barros himself is facing allegations in the Brazilian media that he favored certain investors in the Telebras privatization. The minister has denied the allegations, which surfaced in the Veja newsmagazine over the weekend. The Bank of New York index of 439 leading ADRs <.BKADR> was up 2.11 percent. Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service

To: RockyBalboa who wrote (9725)	11/16/1998 1:37:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

Brazil minister denies favoritism in Telebras sale Reuters, Monday, November 16, 1998 at 11:07 BRASILIA, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Brazil's communications minister on Monday denied charges in the media that the government favored certain investors in the privatization of telecommunications holding Telebras (SAO:RCTB40) last July. "In order to stop any doubts from hovering over the legitimacy of the Telebras sale, the communications minister is voluntarily at the disposal of Congress to make clarifications where needed," Minister Luiz Carlos Mendonca de Barros said in a statement. The weekly magazine Veja last weekend published excerpts of a transcript of illegally taped conversations between Mendonca de Barros and Andre Lara Resende, president of the privatization coordinator National Development Bank (BNDES), before the Telebras auction. The magazine said the tapes "make clear the intentions of Mendonca de Barros and Andre Lara to help Opportunity, a Rio de Janeiro investment bank." Veja said Mendonca de Barros and Lara Resende discussed ways to weaken the bidding position of Telemar, a consortium of Brazilian companies, so Opportunity could have a better shot at winning the Tele Norte Leste fixed line company. However, Telemar ended up winning the Tele Norte Leste auction with a premium of 1 percent over the minimum bid price. Opportunity could not bid for Telemar in the end because it had won a stake in the previous auction of another fixed-line company, Tele Centro Sul. Mendonca de Barros said the Veja article "induces the reader to consider illegitimate" his work and that of the BNDES on the eve of the Telebras sale by reproducing only part of the conversations. "The dialogues divulged by Veja represent only a partial reconstruction of the phone calls taped at the BNDES and do not include contacts with other consortia interested in the auction which would prove no wrongdoing by the BNDES," the statement said. Veja said it pulled the excerpts from two 90-minute tapes government security officials turned over to the police for the criminal investigation into the phone tapping at the BNDES. It was not clear who tapped the phones. Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service