Entities

Financier Carl Icahn and some Icahn entities have purchased nearly 5% of Kerr-McGee Corp. stock and said they intend to nominate two candidates to the board of directors at the company’s annual meeting, which is scheduled for May 10.

Calgary-based independent Esprit Exploration Ltd. has completed its reorganization into two entities: Esprit Energy Trust and ProspEx Resources Ltd. Esprit, known until last year as Canadian 88 Energy Corp., held a special shareholder meeting at the end of September to vote on reorganizing into an income trust and an exploration and production company. Under the reorganization, the energy trust will hold 90% of Esprit’s existing proved producing reserves, and gain Canadian tax advantages. ProspEx will own the balance of the assets and some of the undeveloped lands and will operate as an exploration and production company.

Energy companies with substantial nonregulated entities continued their “long, downward slope” through the second quarter of 2003, but now appear to be riding out the storm, according to the latest Standard & Poor’s (S&Ps) Industry Report Card on U.S. electric, natural gas and water companies.

Energy companies with substantial nonregulated entities continued their “long, downward slope” through the second quarter of 2003, but now appear to be riding out the storm, according to the latest Standard & Poor’s (S&Ps) Industry Report Card on U.S. electric, natural gas and water companies.

Four separate Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E) entities could emerge from bankruptcy with BBB- ratings if all goes well with the company’s reorganization plan, Standard & Poor’s said Thursday. That means the bankruptcy court would have to approve the company’s plan to split itself into four units, and it would have to pass regulatory muster, meet certain financial conditions and be implemented within the expected time frame.

The federal investigation into Enron Corp.’s numerous special purpose entities (SPE) has stumbled upon the question of whether investors also were misled about the value of the company’s natural gas pipelines and power plants, according to a report in The New York Times Thursday.

With an initial investigation of several special purpose entities (SPEs) used by Enron Corp. completed, the court-appointed examiner now will carefully scrutinize “a number of significant questions” about the complex off-balance-sheet transactions, including what role they played in the company’s collapse, whether they were illegally used to manipulate financial statements, and if the SPEs were illegal, whether the officers, directors or professionals involved may be liable.

With an initial investigation of several special purpose entities (SPEs) used by Enron Corp. completed, the court-appointed examiner now will carefully scrutinize “a number of significant questions” about the complex off-balance-sheet transactions, including what role they played in the company’s collapse, whether they were illegally used to manipulate financial statements, and if the SPEs were illegal, whether the officers, directors or professionals involved may be liable.

Cutting the credit rating of Reliant Resources Inc. (RRI) and related entities to “junk” status Friday, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) said the ratings for the companies will remain on negative CreditWatch until debt and credit facility questions can be resolved.