/raid1/www/Hosts/bankrupt/TCRLA_Public/010206.mbx        T R O U B L E D   C O M P A N Y   R E P O R T E R

                  L A T I N   A M E R I C A

         Tuesday, February 6, 2001, Vol. 2, Issue 26

                           Headlines



A R G E N T I N A

EL SITIO: Management Shakeup Comes Before Ibero American Merger


B R A Z I L

CESP: Begins Filling The Sergio Motta Plant Reservoir
iG: Plans To Invest US$5 Million In Wireless Portal Selig
MULTIBRAS: To Close Brazilian Assembly Plant
VESPER: Bell Canada Terminates Sale Agreement With VeloCom


C H I L E

TELEFONICA CTC: Posted Over 114-Billion-Peso Net Loss In 2000


M E X I C O

BANCRECER: To Delay Sale
CHRYSLER: Sure To Close Two Mexican Plants
TRIBASA: Endeavors To Refinance Caterpillar Loan
VITRO: Quarterly Investor Meetings To Trasmit Via Internet


P E R U

EDELNOR/ETEVENSA: Government To Sell Remaining Shares By 2Q01


V E N E Z U E L A

CANTV: Registers $129 Million In Losses Last Year
CORIMON SA: Looses 6.06Bn Bolivars For 9 Mos. Ending 12/31/2000


     - - - - - - - - - -


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A R G E N T I N A
=================

EL SITIO: Management Shakeup Comes Before Ibero American Merger
---------------------------------------------------------------
El Sitio, Inc. (Nasdaq: LCTO), a leading Internet media company
targeting Spanish and Portuguese speakers in Latin America and
the United States, today announced it will implement
organizational changes as the company moves towards completing
its previously announced merger with Ibero American Media
Partners (IAMP), a joint venture between the Cisneros Group of
Companies and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc., a transaction which
will result in the creation of Claxson Interactive Group.

The organizational changes will result in a reduction in El
Sitio's total personnel of approximately 25%, based on headcount
levels at year-end 2000. These personnel actions are designed to
eliminate anticipated overlaps, particularly in the areas of
marketing and advertising, sales, corporate and administration,
as the Internet businesses of El Sitio are being positioned for
the merger with the broadcast radio and TV and pay TV operations
of IAMP. El Sitio will assist affected employees with
outplacement and provide medical coverage for an extended period
beyond that required by law.

"A key aspect of our strategy as we move forward is to identify
operating synergies of combining multiple media platforms,"
commented Leandro Anon, chief operating officer of El Sitio.
"Prior to the completion of the merger, it is necessary to
implement strategic adjustments in all areas of the company,
aiming to be both flexible and operationally efficient as the
company pursues its goal of being a leader in the convergence of
media in Iberoamerica. These personnel-related moves and other
headcount reductions in the fourth quarter of 2000, which we
estimate should produce annual cost savings of approximately $8-
$9 million, will better position us to become a profitable
contributor to Claxson in the future."



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B R A Z I L
===========

CESP: Begins Filling The Sergio Motta Plant Reservoir
-----------------------------------------------------
Filling of the Sergio Motta plant reservoir of Companhia
Energ,tica de Sao Paulo (Cesp) began last week, state energy
secretary Mauro Arce informed in a Brazil Financial Wire report
released Friday. When completed, the process is expected to lure
more investors to the imminent sale of the power generator by
increasing its power output considerably. Prospective buyers have
been waiting for the reservoir filling before jumping in the race
for Cesp.

Cesp, according to Arce, will likely go on the auction block
again in the first half of the year. The power utility's first
attempt to sell in December collapsed when it failed to attract
bidders due to the lack of an environmental license authorizing
it to fill up its reservoir.

Companies, which are most likely to bid in the auction for the
power utility, include Duke Energy and AES of the U.S.,
Portugal's Electricidade de Portugal (EDP), France's Electricit,
de France (EDF), and Brazil's VBC, a holding made up by the
Votorantim group, bank Bradesco and construction group Camargo
Corr^a.


iG: Plans To Invest US$5 Million In Wireless Portal Selig
---------------------------------------------------------
Brazilian content and access provider Internet Group do Brasil
(iG) said it would invest US$5 million in Selig
(www.selig.com.br) during the first year of operations, reported
BNamericas.com Friday. Selig, iG's wireless portal, which was
free of charge after it was launched in July 2000, last week
began charging a monthly fee of US$1.5 (R$3) for access to its 35
channels. Charging for their service has always been the
company's plan, Selig president Fabian de la Rua said, stressing
that the free period was a test.

iG expects the move to turn 3,000 of its 65,000 registered but
irregular users into active users. The idea is to sign up
sponsors for each channel on the portal and reach operational
breakeven this year.


MULTIBRAS: To Close Brazilian Assembly Plant
--------------------------------------------
A 30-percent drop in sales in the last three years prompted
Multibras to close its factory in Sao Bernardo do Campo, in
greater Sao Paulo. Gilberto Teixeira, industrial director at
Multibr s gave details of the closure plans in a Gazeta Mercantil
report released Thursday. As a result, 1,050 workers or 13
percent of its total workforce will lose their jobs. Operations
in the Brazilian plant will be moved to the company's unit in
Joinville (SC), where it will concentrate on producing
refrigerators and freezers.

Multibras, owned by U.S. group Whirlpool, is the largest
appliance maker in Brazil and manufacturer of the Brastemp and
Consul brand appliances.


VESPER: Bell Canada Terminates Sale Agreement With VeloCom
----------------------------------------------------------
     --Termination Allows BCI To Preserve Contractual Agreements
       While Pursuing Alternatives

On September 25, 2000, Bell Canada International Inc. ("BCI")
signed a definitive agreement ("the Agreement") to sell its
interests in the Brazilian competitive local exchange carriers,
Vesper S.A. and Vesper Sao Paulo S.A. and the Internet Service
Provider, Interativa S.A. (collectively, "the Vesper companies")
to VeloCom Inc. of the United States, BCI's partner in the Vesper
companies, for gross proceeds of US$875 million. Closing of the
Vesper companies sale was subject to the parties obtaining
regulatory and other consents, and VeloCom concluding necessary
financing.

VeloCom has not notified BCI that it has obtained the necessary
financing as of the date specified in the Agreement. Accordingly,
BCI has today notified VeloCom that the Agreement is being
terminated. The termination of the Agreement preserves BCI's
contractual rights, while creating the flexibility to pursue a
variety of alternatives.

BCI owns, develops and operates advanced communications companies
in markets outside Canada, with a focus on Latin America. A
subsidiary of BCE Inc., Canada's largest communications company,
BCI's shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the
symbol BI and on the NASDAQ National Market under the symbol
BCICF. Visit our Web site at www.bci.ca



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C H I L E
=========

TELEFONICA CTC: Posted Over 114-Billion-Peso Net Loss In 2000
--------------------------------------------------------------
Telefonica CTC Chile registered a 114.024-billion-peso net loss
in 2000 ($202.59 million), a 116-percent increase from the
company's recorded net loss in 1999, which totaled 52.834 billion
pesos ($93.8 million), a spokesman said in a Reuters Friday
report.

The average forecast of analysts in a Reuters poll pegged CTC's
2000 loss at 93.243 billion pesos ($166 million).

Telefonica CTC is the country's leading telecommunications
company.



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M E X I C O
===========

BANCRECER: To Delay Sale
------------------------
The sale process of government-intervened Grupo Financiero
Bancrecer will not begin before mid-year. This news contradicts
earlier reports indicated that it would go on the auction block
before March, Carlos Septien Michel, group top executive related
in an El Economista/Infolatina report released Friday. The
company attributed the delay to the complicated process of
separating the bank's assets from its bad-loan portfolio. Mexican
bank bailout agency IPAB was expected to sell Bancrecer bank
before March, with its bad-loan portfolio and other assets being
sold off separately later in the year.

"We've preferred to see this delay arise in order to do things
properly -- to sell it in the best way possible and to our
greatest advantage," he said.


CHRYSLER: Sure To Close Two Mexican Plants
------------------------------------------
DaimlerChrysler head of Public Relations in Mexico last week
confirmed the definite closure of two Chrysler plants located in
Toluca, in the state of Mexico, El Economista/Infolatina reported
Friday. The move is part of a worldwide effort to restructure the
company in an attempt to restore profitability. The closure of
the two plants, which make engines and transmissions, will see
2,600 workers lose their jobs.

TCR-LA previously reported that Chrysler, which last week
announced it would halt production of its Dakota model in Brazil,
said it is likely to produce a new vehicle at its Campo Largo
plant to replace its Dakota pickup truck.


TRIBASA: Endeavors To Refinance Caterpillar Loan
------------------------------------------------
The financially-troubled Mexican construction company has yet to
conclude the refinancing of a debt with U.S.-based construction
equipment maker Caterpillar, reported Infolatina Friday. Reports
indicate that the Mexican state-run development bank the National
Foreign Trade Bank (Bancomext) underwrote a $15-million letter of
credit from Caterpillar to Tribasa. However, Tribasa has found a
new source of financing. If the company is successful moving
forward with the new source, Standard Bank of London and Latin
World Securities will handle the operation.

Caterpillar is among a group of Tribasa creditors closely
following the debt-restructuring process at the company, under
the guidance of Bank of America.


VITRO: Quarterly Investor Meetings To Trasmit Via Internet
----------------------------------------------------------
Vitro, a Mexican glassmaker located in the northern industrial
hub of Monterrey, announced it is close to striking a deal with
an undisclosed U.S. company to transmit its quarterly meetings
with investors via the Internet. According to an El
Economista/Infolatina report Friday, the web-based audio-video
conferences with analysts and investors around the world will put
Vitro in the vanguard of Mexican publicly traded companies in
terms of investor relations.



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P E R U
=======

EDELNOR/ETEVENSA: Government To Sell Remaining Shares By 2Q01
-------------------------------------------------------------
The Peruvian government is aiming to sell the state's 36.5
percent and 38 percent shares in distributor Edelnor and
generator Etevensa, respectively, in the second quarter of this
year. This was revealed by privatization special committee
(Cepri) consultant Jose Antonio Gutierrez in a BNamericas.com
report published Friday.

"We still haven't set a date but we hope to sell these shares
before June at the latest. The idea was to sell them in March but
that's very close and we think it is more likely to happen in
2Q01, as March is also the eve of presidential elections and the
country will not be calm," Gutierrez related.

Word on the street says the state could get between US$100
million to US$120 million from the sale of Edelnor. However,
there is no current estimate for Etevensa, as this valuation is
in the hands of Santander Investment.



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V E N E Z U E L A
=================

CANTV: Registers $129 Million In Losses Last Year
-------------------------------------------------
Venezuela's leading telecoms company, CANTV, registered a net
loss of $129 million in 2000, compared with a $145-million profit
in 1999, as it took a one-time charge of $158 million for
workforce restructuring, Reuters reported Friday. In a Company
statement, management indicated CANTV lost $162 million in the
fourth quarter, compared to making a profit of $28 million in the
same period the previous year, due to the charge and tariff
reductions to prepare for competition in the local fixed-line
telephone market.

The company effected a personnel-reduction program on Jan. 15,
2001, which led to the voluntary retirement of 3,752 employees
from its 11,000-person workforce.

A report, which started as a rumor months ago, hinted that a
restructuring was underway to make the company more competitive
and attractive for a possible acquisition by foreign interests,
chief among them Spain's Telefonica, which currently holds a 6.7-
percent stake in CANTV.

CANTV was privatized in 1991 and held a monopoly until last
November, when the process of opening up Venezuela's
telecommunications industry began.


CORIMON SA: Looses 6.06Bn Bolivars For 9 Mos. Ending 12/31/2000
---------------------------------------------------------------

Corimon SA CA (CRM), a Venezuelan paints and chemicals
manufacturer, last week announced a 6.06-billion-bolivar
($1=VEB700.25 at Dec. 31, 2000) loss in the nine months ending
Dec. 31, 2000. According to a report released by Dow Jones
Newswires Thursday, this narrowed by 18 percent from a VEB7.47-
billion loss from the same period a year ago.

The company registered other results:

- Revenues of VEB59.37 billion, up 25 percent from VEB47.5
billion a year before

- Operating profits of VEB2.91 billion versus an operating loss
of VEB978 million as cost of sales narrowed 15 percent and Sales,
General and Administrative expenses dropped 18 percent.

An unnamed company official said that the company expects further
improvement by the end of 2001 fiscal year ended March 31:

- The paints division, accounting for about 55 percent of sales,
should post revenues of around VEB42 billion for the year, an
increase of 22 percent from VEB34.3 billion the year before.

- Operating earnings for the paints division should come in
around VEB6.6 billion for fiscal 2001, up about 44 percent from
VEB4.5 billion in the previous period.




S U B S C R I P T I O N   I N F O R M A T I O N

Troubled Company Reporter Latin American is a daily newsletter
co-published by Bankruptcy Creditors' Service, Inc., Trenton, NJ,
and Beard Group, Inc., Washington, DC. John D. Resnick, Edem
Psamathe P. Alfeche and Janice Mendoza, Editors.

Copyright 2001.  All rights reserved.  ISSN 1529-2746.

This material is copyrighted and any commercial use, resale or
publication in any form (including e-mail forwarding, electronic
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Information contained herein is obtained from sources believed to
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The TCR Latin America subscription rate is $575 per half-year,
delivered via e-mail.  Additional e-mail subscriptions for
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or balance thereof are $25 each.  For subscription information,
contact Christopher Beard at 301/951-6400.


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