HOUSTON (AFX) - Enron Corp. completed the sale of its last major asset Thursday with the closing of a $2.9 billion deal to sell Prisma Energy International, a group of international power plants and pipelines, to a private equity firm.
However, Enron still has some interests in assets and ongoing bankruptcy-related litigation. 'There is a collection of smaller assets that are in the process of being valued, but nothing of any monumental size,' Enron spokesman Harlan Loeb said.
Enron first announced its plan to sell Prisma's 15 assets in 11 countries to Ashmore Energy International Ltd., a private equity firm majority owned by funds managed by London-based Ashmore Investment Management Ltd., in May.
Once the country's seventh-largest company, Enron collapsed into bankruptcy proceedings in December 2001 upon revelations of partnerships and financing schemes that hid debt and inflated profits.
Its Chapter 11 case was the second-largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history, behind WorldCom Inc. It also generated more than $1 billion in fees for attorneys, accountants and other professionals, surpassing such costs for WorldCom and others.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez in New York confirmed Enron's reorganization plan in July 2004, which aims to pay most creditors about one-fifth of the estimated $63 billion they're owed.
The plan went effective in mid-November 2004, finally canceling Enron stock, reduced to pennies upon the company's failure, and turning it into a private company.
The same day, the company closed on the $2 billion sale CrossCountry Energy LLC, which held its most prized remaining assets -- whole or part ownership in three domestic natural gas pipelines.
Distributions to creditors began last year, and are continuing, Loeb said.
The sale of the domestic pipelines left Enron with Portland General Electric, a Pacific Northwest utility, which had a suitor, and Prisma, which garnered little interest among buyers.
Enron's longtime plan to sell Portland General to a holding company backed by Texas Pacific Group for $1.25 billion fell through in 2005 when Oregon regulators blocked the deal in April last year. In April this year the utility, which Enron bought in 1997 for $3 billion, severed its ties with Enron and issued its common stock as an independent company. Of the 62.5 millions shares issued, 43 percent were given to Enron creditors that settled their claims.
That left Prisma. Offers were slow in coming, and Enron had the option of issuing stock in Prisma to creditors rather than sell the assets on the cheap.
CrossCountry, Portland General and Prisma were never insolvent or part of Enron's bankruptcy.
With the Prisma sale, Enron's main business is handling lawsuits, cooperating with investigations and distributions to creditors. The company that once employed more than 20,000 workers worldwide now has a head count of 400 full-time and contract workers.
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