A bankruptcy court judge on Wednesday postponed a final decision on the future of Brazil's embattled Varig airline so he could review new information from potential investors.
Judge Luiz Roberto Ayoub did not set a new date for ratifying the sale of the heavily indebted airline, the court said on its Web site.
Ayoub originally was to rule Wednesday on a bid made by an investment group led by Varig workers.
The TGV group made a formal bid last week of US$449 million (euro353 million) to take over the domestic and international operations of Brazil's 79-year-old flagship airline. It was the lone bid submitted in the auction.
Ayoub said he accepted the bid "in principle" but asked for more details on how the group planned to finance the deal.
On Wednesday he was to determine whether to accept the TGV bid or put Varig on the road to court-supervised liquidation, with its assets sold and the proceeds going to pay creditors.
But the possibility of new investors joining the workers' group led Ayoub to postpone the decision, the Estado news agency said.
The agency said the judge met Wednesday with executives of Portugal's TAP airline, among other possible investors.
Varig, or Viacao Aerea Rio-Grandense SA, has been in financial trouble for years, with debt of about $3.5 billion. In June 2005, it became one of the first companies to use Brazil's new bankruptcy law, similar to U.S. Chapter 11 proceedings.
The airline employs about 11,000 people.
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