Standard & Poor's Announces Changes in S&P Latin America 40 Index

NEW YORK (PROTEXT) - Standard & Poor's will make the following changes in the S&P Latin America 40 Index after the close of trading Wednesday December 1, 1999: -- Telesp PN will be deleted from the S&P Latin America 40 Index following its acquisition by Telesp Participacoes, effective immediately. -- Companhia Paranaense de Energia -- Copel will replace Telesp PN. Copel is a provider of electric power in Brazil in the state of Parana. It will be added to the Utilities sector. Its expected investable weight factor is 0.79. -- Upon completion of the merger Telesp Participacoes will change its name to Telesp PN. Its investable weight factor will be revised to 1.00. No earlier notice was given due to the final notice from the companies occurring after the close of trading November 30, 1999. The S&P Latin America 40 covers Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico. The Indices provide geographic and economic diversity over 10 industry sectors. The indices are calculated real-time by Reuters. Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., provides financial, economic and investment information and analytical services to the global financial community. S&P calculates and maintains the S&P Global Index, which includes the S&P Euro and Euro Plus for Continental Europe, the S&P/TSE 60 for Canada, the S&P 500 for the U.S., the S&P/TOPIX for Japan, the S&P Asia Pacific 100, the S&P United Kingdom 150 and the S&P Latin America 40. S&P also publishes the S&P MidCap 400, S&P SmallCap 600, S&P SuperComposite 1500 and S&P REIT Composite for the U.S. and the S&P/TSE Canadian MidCap and S&P/TSE Canadian SmallCap Indices. Over $750 billion is indexed to S&P indices. Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies is a leading information services provider meeting worldwide needs in education, business, finance, the professions and government. The corporation employs 16,500 people located in more than 400 offices in 32 countries. Sales in 1998 were $3.7 billion. Company additions to and deletions from an S&P equity index do not in any way reflect an opinion on the investment merits of the company. ots Original Text Service: Standard & Poor's Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: Carol Levine, Communications Manager, Index Services, 212-438-3534 Web site: http://www.spglobal.com Subscribers please note that material bearing the slug "PROTEXT" is not part of CTK's news service and is not to be published under the "CTK" slug. Protext is a commercial service providing distribution of press releases from clients, who are identified in the text of Protext reports and who bear full responsibility for their contents. PROTEXT