Brazilian wins bidding for Avianca airline Tue Jun 1, 2004 03:28 PM ET (Updates with details) By Phil Stewart BOGOTA, Colombia, June 1 (Reuters) - Colombia's bankrupt airline Avianca said on Tuesday its board had picked a cash-rich Brazilian oil entrepreneur to take charge of the carrier over a rival group led by Continental Airlines (CAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) . The bid by Brazilian businessman German Efromovich, who would take a 75 percent stake in Avianca, will be formally submitted for approval to a U.S. bankruptcy court under the struggling carrier's Chapter 11 proceedings, Avianca said. "(Efromovich's bid) adequately complied with with necessary requirements for the company to emerge from Chapter 11 in a satisfactory manner," Avianca said in a statement. Efromovich, who wants Avianca to complement his Brazilian regional carrier, Ocean Air, offered in his bid to make a $64-million cash injection into Colombia's flagship airline and assume its debt of about $300 million. In comparison, the bid by Continental -- in partnership with Panama's Copa airlines -- was "subject to multiple conditions," Avianca said. One of the conditions was that Copa was first able to obtain a $50 million loan so that it could pay off the Colombian carrier's pension liabilities. A New York bankruptcy judge repeatedly extended Avianca's deadline to present its restructuring plan, in order to give the company time to examine the rival bids. The plan, which should demonstrate how the airline will pay its creditors, must be submitted to the court by June 11. A REGIONAL CARRIER? Founded in 1919, Avianca says it is the world's second-oldest airline after Dutch carrier KLM. It is also Colombia's biggest commercial carrier, with 290 flights a day and service to 17 destinations abroad. During an April briefing with journalists in Colombia, Efromovich said he planned to use Avianca to feed northern Brazilian cities into international routes via Bogota, instead of forcing them to trek south to Brazilian hubs Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Brazil is Latin America's biggest economy. Efromovich was traveling on Tuesday, and could not be immediately reached for comment, his oil company, Maritima Petroleo e Engenharia Ltda., said. Avianca said the purchase would be handled by Efromovich's conglomerate Sinergy, and Ocean Air. Under the proposal, unveiled in March, Colombian conglomerate Valores Bavaria (VAB.CN: Quote, Profile, Research) will hand over its 50-percent stake to Efromovich and Colombia's Coffee Growers' Federation will reduce its 50 percent share to 25 percent. After three years, the Federation will have the right to sell its stake to Efromovich and recover its investment into saving Avianca by merging it with now-defunct airline ACES. The company that Efromovich aims to purchase has been steadily improving its results over the last year, thanks to a cost-cutting plan. After years of losses, the company posted a first-quarter profit of about $18 million, compared with losses of nearly $25 million a year earlier. Roger EWROPS