A putative agreement between Citigroup and the other controlling shareholders of Brasil Telecom to allow its sale to Oi has dragged back into the public eye a long-running dispute that its protagonists would love to put behind them.

The dispute has its origins in the privatisation of Brazil’s telecoms sector in 1998. Among various consortia that bid for four large fixed-line and 12 mobile companies was one formed by Citigroup, Telecom Italia and a group of Brazilian pension funds, co-ordinated by Opportunity, a Rio de Janeiro-based investment firm, and its founder and manager, Daniel Dantas.

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