Confirming previous reports,IRB-Brasil Resseguros SACEO José Carlos Cardoso said April 5 that the firm is considering a stake sale viapublic auction insteadof an initial public offering.

In an emailed statement, the executive said that the companyis aware of ongoing discussions between the government — which is the company'scontroller with a 27.44% stake — and the reinsurer's private shareholders, addingthat the firm has been preparing itself in recent years "for all possible scenarios."According to Cardoso, "any decision will be good for the company."

O Estado de S. Pauloreported the same day that Brazil's Finance Ministry is in talks with IRB's privateshareholders to persuade them to launch an auction on Brazil's stock exchange to sell the reinsurer sometime in the second half of the year.