Oi SA, Brazil’s largest fixed-line telecom firm, is about to formally call for a general shareholders’ meeting, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters, as the company pushes ahead with its aggressive restructuring plan. According to the source, who requested anonymity to discuss the matter before the announcement, the firm plans to file a formal invite for the meeting to officially approve a 4 billion reais ($1.07 billion) capital injection into the firm this week or next, Reuters reported.

In a related story, Reuters reported that Brazilian telephone carrier Oi SA said on Wednesday that a judge in Lisbon had decided against validating the company’s restructuring plan in Portugal for now, adding that the decision will not keep the plan from going into effect. In a securities filing, Oi said a judge determined that there are outstanding appeals related to the firm’s restructuring of 65 billion reais ($17.4 billion) in debt that must be resolved before the Portuguese court signs off on the plan.

Italian utility Enel SpA has called a halt to further acquisitions in Brazil for the time being as it gears up to complete asset sales of up to 1.5 billion euros (1.34 billion pounds) in the second half of the year, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. "I don't see appetite for further acquisitions in Brazil at this stage," Enel CEO Francesco Starace told analysts on a conference call on Tuesday after the company released first-half results.

Three distressed asset funds have sued for the right to participate in a 4 billion reais ($1 billion) capital increase for Brazilian telecom Oi SA as part of its in-court restructuring, four sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters this week. The fight for the chance to invest in Oi, Brazil’s largest fixed line carrier, reveals a sharp turnaround in investors’ perception of a company that flirted with liquidation a year ago, Reuters reported.

A consortium led by top oil trader Vitol has entered exclusive talks to acquire stakes in Nigerian offshore fields that are held by Brazil’s Petrobras and its partners, industry sources said, Reuters reported. The assets are estimated to be worth up to $2.5 billion, the two banking sources and one industry source told Reuters. The buyers are talking to state-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA, known as Petrobras, which is leading the sale, the sources added.

A 200 basis-point increase in interest rates could spark a sharp rise in the proportion of emerging market corporate debt issues at risk of default, with Brazilian and Indian firms most vulnerable, a report from McKinsey Global Institute showed. Following a decade of loose monetary policy and historically low interest rates aimed at boosting economic growth after the 2008-9 financial crisis, global central banks including the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank are either raising interest rates or signalling an end to accommodative policies, Reuters reported.

When Pedro Parente quit last week as chief of executive of Brazil’s state-controlled Petrobras, Latin America’s largest oil company, he used his resignation to lament his countrymen’s apparent disdain for market dynamics, the Financial Times reported. Mr Parente, a champion of free-market policies, resigned after the Brazilian government gave in to truckers whose strike against an increase in fuel prices brought Brazil’s economy to its knees for 10 days.

Shares of Brazil’s state-owned oil company Petrobras plunged nearly 15 per cent in early trade on Thursday after the company’s overnight announcement of a surprise diesel price cut to pacify striking truckers, the Financial Times reported. The Brazilian bellwether stock was down 13.71 per cent at R$20.08 per share just before midday, dragging the benchmark Ibovespa index 1.81 per cent lower to 79,402.02 points.

A U.S. bankruptcy court is set to hear a dispute involving Brazilian telecoms company Oi SA and major shareholder Bratel Brasil SA, Bratel said on Wednesday, as investor discontent with Oi’s bankruptcy reorganization process shows no signs of abating, Reuters reported. On Friday, Bratel, a subsidiary of Portugal’s Pharol SGPS SA, which owns almost 28 percent of Oi’s common shares, said it had filed a legal complaint in the United States.

Brazilian development bank BNDES is in talks with four companies interested in acquiring the operation of Viracopos airport, the bank’s chief executive officer said on Tuesday. Viracopos’ operator filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday and CEO Dyogo Oliveira said the bank will try to find a solution before the courts decide on the reorganization, Reuters reported. According to Oliveira, European and Asian companies are interested in operating the airport.