Rio - Luiz Roberto Ayoub, the judge at a Business Court (8ª Vara Empresarial do Tribunal de Justiça) in Rio de Janeiro, is scheduled to rule on yesterday's auction of the Brazilian carrier, Varig. Ayoub will decide whether or not to accept the only bid for Varig, which was made by NV Participações, representing a Varig worker organization (Trabalhadores do Grupo Varig) (TGV).

The bid by TGV consisted of an offer to pay R$285 million in cash, an additional R$500 million in debentures and another R$225 million in receivable credits, totalling around R$1 billion (slightly less than US$500).

The preestablished asking prices were US$860 million for Varig, and an additional US$700 million for the company's domestic flights.

Translation: Allen Bennett