FINANCIER: ELENA LANDAU (int'l edition) As Brazil's auctioneer-in-chief, Elena Landau oversaw the sell-off of $12 billion worth of state-run companies, from railroads to utilities. That was in her role as director of privatizations for Brazil's national development bank from 1993 to 1996. Now, as a consultant, she has advised Brazilian asset manager Opportunity in buying stakes in phone company Telebras and helped U.S.-based AES Corp. in deals to buy electric utilities. Despite the flight of investors from emerging markets, Landau is upbeat about Brazil's privatization program. As prices fall, she expects multinationals with cash will be hunting for bargains, as Brazil's state governments sell off utilities over the next year. ''In acquisitions, a bearish market is not a problem,'' says the ebullient Landau, eyeing the clear view of Guanabara Bay and Sugarloaf from her 28th-floor office in Rio de Janeiro. ''Just the opposite.'' The 40-year-old Landau expects a wave of consolidation in some of Brazil's largest industries that have already moved into private hands. Telecommunications could be on the top of the list, she says. She expects companies running privatized phone networks in states such as Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro to begin buying up rivals in adjacent regions to boost market share. Having built her name through privatizing state assets, Landau is now looking forward to working on more private-sector deals. Under a new law, the social clubs that run Brazilian soccer teams must turn the teams into companies. Working with Opportunity, Landau wants to list clubs such as Rio's Flamengo on stock exchanges worldwide. That would be a landmark, she says, in the globalization of Brazilian business. Return to main story

Updated Oct. 15, 1998 by bwwebmaster
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