=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/n/a/2005/07/12/financial/= f180507D60.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, July 12, 2005 (AP) Varig Airlines Starts Restructuring Plan (07-12) 18:05 PDT SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- The 60-day period which Varig, Brazil's debt-laden airline, has to prese= nt a restructuring plan aimed at recovering its financial health began on Tuesday, local media reported. The two-month period formally began with the publication Tuesday in the Official Gazette of Rio de Janeiro state of last month's court decision allowing the airline to put together a debt-restructuring plan. Once its plan is ready, Varig will have an additional four months to negotiate it with its creditors, the Agencia Estado news agency said. To be implemented, the plan must be approved by 51 percent of the airline's creditors.If approval is refused the company will be declared bankrupt, Agencia Estado said. Varig's single largest creditor is the Brazilian state. Other creditors include the airline's pension fund, Aerus, as well as firms that lease aircraft to the stricken company, including units of General Electric Co., Boeing Co. and Goodrich Corp., along with International Lease Finance Corp., a unit of American International Group Inc. Varig officials were not immediately available for comment. On June 22, a Brazilian court accepted Varig's petition to begin a financial restructuring process under the new bankruptcy law. Varig sought protection from creditors under the new bankruptcy law — which took effect June 9 — as it struggles to resolve debts totaling around 9.5 billion reals ($4 billion). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2005 AP