Paranapanema Ends Losses

Brazil’s Paranapanema mining group earned $44.4 million in 2004, ending six years of losses. The company is now negotiating with the government’s BNDES development bank to convert its $100 million debt into equity. Pension funds led by Previ, the country’s largest, control the company and will convert $200 million in corporate bonds into equity before they mature in 2007.