Making up.

Telecom Italia, an Italian telecommunications company, bought a stake in Opportunity, a Brazilian financial group, from telecommunications company Brasil Telecom for US$441.7 million. As part of the deal, Telecom Italia and Brasil Telecom will end a bitter legal dispute that included allegations of corporate spying. Telecom Italia will regain its rights--suspended since August 2002--within a group that controls Brasil Telecom, resuming its role in the management. The acquisition will be finalized within 24 months, according to Brasil Telecom. At press time, however, the venture capital arm of Citibank--which held a stake in Brasil Telecom through Opportunity--had won a court order blocking the sale.