Rio Linhas Aéreas (RIO, Curitiba International) could see the Brazilian postal service become a minority shareholder after it filed for an exemption with the local anti-trust authority to allow it to acquire a stake in the cargo specialist.
The Empresa Brasileira de Correios e Telégrafos SA's move to acquire the stake comes on the back of a recommendation from the country's Comptroller General and the Brazilian federal accountability office (Tribunal de Contas da União - TCU) that owning a controlling stake in a local freight carrier would allow the parastatal to have more control over its contracts in the long run.
"It would be a significant participation, but less than 50%, which would give greater stability to our contracts," Wagner Pinheiro, the chairman of Correios, said.
Should the transaction be approved by Brazil's Administrative Council for Economic Defence (Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica - CADE) and other regulatory bodies including the National Civil Aviation Agency and other federal agencies, then the acquisition is expected to go through in the second half of this year.
Rio Linhas Aéreas currently operates one B767-200(F), five B727-200(F)s, and one B737-400(F) on flights throughout Brazil.
