Communications Minister, Brazil AGE 55 ADDRESS Esplanada dos
Ministerios, Bloco R, Sala 710, Brasilia-DF, Brazil BIO Mendonca
started as a financial analyst at Investbanco, one of the first
consortium investment banks established after Brazilian financial
reforms in the '60s. He went on to found two brokerage firms and
an investment bank-fund-management company called Matrix. In 1995
Mendonca, then president of the National Bank for Economic and
Social Development, began his participation in the privatization
of Telebras, Brazil's telecommunications monopoly. When former
Minister of Communications Sergio Motta died this past spring,
Mendonca took his place. People who know him say he is full of
enthusiasm, a supporter of the free market and able to keep
Brazil's economic welfare at the forefront. 1998 POWER PLAY The
privatization of Telebras was the second largest in history. The
Brazilian government received $19 billion for the sale, and
Mendonca was the one who pushed it through: he coordinated a
commission to convert the monopoly into 12 separate companies,
which were sold off to strategic partners. Telebras was the most
actively traded American Depository Receipt on the New York Stock
Exchange. PLACE YOUR BETS It is expected that the 12 new holding
companies will list on the n.y.s.e. sometime this fall with new
adrs representing new preferred shares. Huge untapped market:
currently only 11 phones per 100 people in Brazil (a.k.a.
cha-ching!).
