MRS given 6mths to restructure ownership

Brazil's national land transport regulator ANTT has given rail concessionaire MRS Logistica six months to restructure its shareholders' composition in order to comply with a special contractual clause, the transport ministry reported. The clause states that no one shareholder may own directly or indirectly more than 20% of the concessionaire. Current MRS shareholders are: steelmaker CSN (NYSE: SID) with 32.2%, Mineracoes Brasileiras Reunidas with 32.7%, iron ore miner Mineracao with 10.4%, steelmaker Usiminas with 10.2%, and others with 14.5%. Ferteco was recently absorbed by mining giant CVRD (NYSE: RIO) and Mineracoes Brasileiras Reunidas is a unit of iron ore miner Caemi, which in turn is controlled by CVRD. The railroad concessionaire operates the 1,700km southeast network known as Malha Sudeste through the states of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, moving 74.4Mt of cargo in 2002. It expects to handle 85Mt this year.