Tower

Energy companies that were either directly or indirectly affected by the destruction from Hurricane Katrina were contributing millions of dollars to the American Red Cross last week to fund relief efforts. Utilities across the national also were sending or had already sent crews to help rebuild the energy infrastructure along the devastated Gulf Coast.

With a bid of $55.5 million, a group led by a Houston cardiologist won an auction to buy Enron Corp.’s headquarters. The 50-story tower in downtown Houston had been owned by a syndicate of banks that included J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., which bought it in the 1990s for $285 million and leased it back to Enron. The company had moved into the building in 1986, according to a spokesman. The building is carried on Houston’s tax rolls for $93 million. The transaction is scheduled to become final Dec. 16, pending approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Proceeds from the sale will go to the bank syndicate. An adjoining 40-story skyscraper, which was built for Enron and nearly new when the company declared bankruptcy in Dec. 2001,sold for $105 million about a year ago.