Adding insult to injury, Enron Corp.’s bankruptcy may complicate its anticipated sale of $800 million in assets that were already on the books because of due diligence issues, the company disclosed Monday. The asset sales, slated to be completed by the end of this month, include oil and natural gas fields in India, Brazilian gas utilities and its stake in a Puerto Rican power plant and liquefied natural gas terminal. Enron remains optimistic, however, that the sales will close, according to a spokesman.

In a November regulatory filing, Enron had indicated it planned to use $250 million of the $800 million to repay some of its debt that is expected to come due because of credit rating downgrades. Last week, Enron indicated it had $500 million in cash and was working with the investment community on another $1 billion loan to pump up its trading and marketing unit.

Overall, Enron has said it would shed as much as $8 billion of its non-core assets, including its broadband unit, a power plant in India and a water treatment unit located in the United Kingdom. Also scheduled for sale next year is its Portland General subsidiary to Northwest Natural, which was not scheduled to close before the third quarter of 2002.

In other news, two separate bids emerged over the weekend for Enron’s trading unit, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper reported Monday that Citigroup Inc.’s Salomon Smith Barney arm and UBS AG were finalizing bids and at least one bid was expected this week. Another potential bidder, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., which infused Enron with a $1.5 billion loan before the company filed for bankruptcy, also is considering an offer. Neither Citigroup, UBS or Enron would comment.

Meanwhile, California energy regulators said in a statement they may investigate Enron affiliates that provide energy to the state, including Enron Energy Marketing Corp., Enron Energy Services Inc. and New Power Co. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) was expected to vote Tuesday on whether to begin an investigation to determine if it should “take action or recommend that other agencies take action to protect the interests” of energy customers in California.

The CPUC said it will gather information to “assess the effects, if any, of Enron’s financial status on its customers and on other customers” in the state. Enron had been strongly supportive of California’s move to deregulate its electricity market.

In offers to buy the beleaguered company, the Journal reported that both UBS and Citigroup would take controlling interests in a new trading company, but the amount of money proposed has not been disclosed. One source indicated that Enron would receive a “large cash payment” for its trading unit and a minority stake in a new company, “which could become valuable if the operation, known as EnronOnline, is revived.”

“The whole key is to light EnronOnline back up,” the source said. EnronOnline, which was unveiled in November 2000, had been the market leader for gas and electricity trading until the company began to fall apart in late October, and had been considered Enron’s most valuable asset. Enron’s advisers believe that a transaction struck with a large investment company would “reverse any ill will generated by its rapid decline.” However, many of Enron’s trading and marketing rivals have indicated in recent days that their business has soared since Enron’s falter, and expect the marketplace to take up the slack caused with Enron’s bankruptcy (see Daily GPI, Dec. 6; Dec. 7).

If a bid is made this week, the top bidder would become the “stalking horse,” considered the bid to beat under Enron’s bankruptcy, said the Journal. The New York court currently handling the bankruptcy case would decide whether a bid could be approved and would set up a procedure for competing bids to be considered.

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