Enron can become nonexistent
By Our Corporate Bureau | 09 Nov 2001
New York: Will Enron, Americas largest trader of natural gas and electricity, cease to exist? It seems so. That is, if the deal between Dynegy Inc and Enron Corp goes through.
In a late evening communication on 8 November, Dynegy said it is in talks with Enron to buy it out in an $8-billion stock-and-cash deal and would use $1.50 billion in capital to be infused by Chevron Texaco Corporation. Chevron, which recently merged with Texaco, is Dynegys founding investor and still owns a 26.50-per cent stake in the company.
The
deal would prove to be a big reliever for Enron, which has had a
terrible time in the last one year, during which period it
reported its first quarterly loss in four years. Its financial
transactions are also under the scrutiny of the US SEC, after the
company failed to explain off-balance sheet-transactions with
ousted CFO Andrew Fastow.
Disappointed with its performance, investors have heavily sold Enron shares, which have seen their values plummeting to a seven-year low of $7 on 7 November last in comparison to the $90 in August 2000. However, after the news broke out, some buying happened, which resulted in the scrip rising to close at $9.05 on the next day. The buying out of Enron would catapult Dynegy to the No1 spot in the world in the energy-trading segment. The revenues of the merged entity would cross the $100-billion mark, considering that last year while Dynegys revenues were placed at $29 billion, those of Enron were $100 billion.
Buying out Enron, however, would also mean Dynegy picking up a $12.80-billion debt. Reports say Enron had been seeking buyers for quite some time now, which included investors like Warren Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. However, the move proved unsuccessful, as none knew what could be the exact amount of off-balance sheet liabilities for Enron.