MNI SOURCES: Brazil To Privatise 17 Firms, Mint, Post Office

     BRASILIA(MNI) - Brazil's government will announce a list of 17 state-owned

companies to kick-start its privatisation process later on Wednesday, and it

expects to raise about $ 15.1 billion from six of the firms alone, including

postal company Correios, Telebras and generator Eletrobras, officials from

President Jair Bolsonaro's government told MNI.

     Other big firms to go on the block will include Casa de Moeda, Brazil's

mint, and data processing companies Serpro and Dataprev, the officials said.

     The smaller companies lined up for privatisation are port administrators

Codesp and Codesa, Lotex, which runs lotteries, public TV and radio firm Empresa

Brasil de Comunicacao, and microelectronics producer Ceitec. Trensurb and CBTU,

which run subways and urban trains in six Brazilian state capitals, are also

included on the list, as well as Ceagesp and Ceasaminas, which distribute

agricultural products in Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais, asset manager Emgea, which

manages the assets of the Union, and financial services provider ABGF.

     Each privatisation must first be approved by both houses of Congress.

Companies with large numbers of employees, such as Correios, with more than

100,000 workers, can exercise sway over parliamentarians, and the Bolsonaro

government's relations with the legislature are not easy. Its economic policies,

though, have won support from lower house president Rodrigo Maia, and sometimes

from a group of centrist and right-wing parties.

     While privatisations began under former President Michel Temer, current

Economy Ministry Paulo Guedes has accelerated the programme, and at one stage

wanted to sell off most of the 134 state-owned companies, with a study

identifying 75 that could feasibly be disposed off. Bolsonaro however moved to

block the sale of some companies including state oil producer Petrobras and

financial institutions Caixa and Banco do Brasil.

     Since taking office in January this year, the president has privatised four

Petrobras subsidiaries and sold equity interests in insurance, energy and

education. Legislative approval was not necessary in these cases, which were not

straight-out sales of public companies.

--MNI London Bureau; +44 203 865 3829; email: jason.webb@marketnews.com

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