Opportunity to sell majority stakes in Brazilian carriers

RIO DE JANIERO, Brazil-A Brazilian company said it is placing its controlling stakes in two Brazilian wireless carriers up for sale in a bidding process.

Futuretel S.A. and Highlake International Business Company Ltd., both part of the Opportunity Group, said they will start a competitive bidding process for the sale of their stakes representing more than 50 percent of the voting capital of Telemig Celular Participacoes S.A. and Tele Norte Celular Participacoes S.A.

Expected bidders for the stakes include Mexico’s America Movil and Vivo, the joint venture of Telefonica Moviles and Portugal Telecom.

Telemig had 2.8 million subscribers at end-2004, and Tele Norte, which operates under the Amazonia Cellular name, had 1.26 million users.