Alana Gandra
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Rio - A Rio de Janeiro business court has accepted the sale of Brazil's biggest but deeply troubled carrier, Varig. The presiding judge in the case, Luiz Roberto Ayoub, declared that "... with the judicial acceptance of the result of the June 8 auction, NV Participações (representing Varig employees) is the owner of the company (Varig Operacional)." However, the buyers must make an initial deposit of US$75 million (R$172.5 million) within 72 hours.

At the June 8 auction, the only one bid made was by NV Participações which offered R$1.01 billion for Varig.

Translation: Allen Bennett