|
Enron selling 51% of trading unit
|
 |
December 17, 2001: 1:44 p.m. ET
Bids for unit of humbled energy co. must be in by Jan. 7 and auction is expected Jan. 10.
|
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Enron Corp. plans to sell 51 percent of its energy trading operations and bids for the unit must be in by Jan.7, bankruptcy court documents revealed.
Houston-based Enron (ENE: down $0.06 to $0.57, Research, Estimates) hopes to form a joint venture with a third party and anticipates retaining a 49 percent stake in the energy business. Enron will sell the equipment, fixed assets, hardware and software, intellectual property and records of the trading operations, court documents said.
Enron asked the bankruptcy court to approve the auction and asked for a hearing to consider the sale to occur no later than Jan. 11, documents filed on Dec. 14 said.
Enron is inviting cash bids for 51 percent of the wholesale business, which makes markets for natural gas and electricity. Shares of Enron (ENE: down $0.06 to $0.57, Research, Estimates) dropped nearly 10 percent Monday in early afternoon trading.
Advisors for the humbled energy trader and its creditors' committee must receive the bids by Jan. 7, with the auction set to take place on Jan. 10, court documents said.
Citigroup Inc. and UBS AG are in talks to take a controlling stake in Enron's trading operations, CNN/Money reported earlier this month. J.P. Morgan is also interested in the unit.
Salomon Smith Barney, a unit of Citigroup, and J.P. Morgan advised Enron in its failed merger with Dynegy Inc. Enron also secured $1.5 billion in so-called debtor-in-possession financing from J.P. Morgan and Salomon after it filed the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history.
Enron is requiring companies vying for the business to comply with strict conditions. Bidders must have a financial rating of "A1" or higher from Moody's or "A-t" or higher from Standard & Poor's.
Competing offers also must be accompanies by a good faith deposit of $25 million in a certified or cashier's check made payable to Enron.
Blackstone and law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges are advising Enron in its restructuring under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
