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Enron Mail |
New Power Co. Begins Offering Power Service In Ohio
Dow Jones, 02/07/2001 UK: Insurers Seen More Involved In Credit Derivatives Reuters, 02/07/2001 India: Indian State Unable To Pay Enron-Chief Minister Reuters, 02/07/2001 UK: Russian Energy Trader Crown Covets Marc Rich Jewels Reuters, 02/07/2001 Tridium Inc. Appoints Laura Bacon As Chief Financial Officer Business Wire, 02/07/2001 New Power Co. Begins Offering Power Service In Ohio 02/07/2001 Dow Jones Energy Service (Copyright © 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) CHICAGO -(Dow Jones)- The New Power Company, a subsidiary of NewPower Holdings Inc. (NPW), said Wednesday it has started offering electricity service to residents in parts of central and southern Ohio. The company will compete for customers in parts of Cinergy Corp.'s (CIN) Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co. territory and American Electric Power Co.'s (AEP) Columbus Southern Power Co. territory. New Power said it will also begin offering competitive natural-gas service next week to customers of NiSource Inc.'s (NI) Columbia Gas of Ohio. A report last week from Ohio Consumers' Counsel, a state utility advocate, said electric competition was off to a slow start in the state following its introduction Jan. 1. Only six alternate suppliers were marketing power in the state, and none were operating in the Cincinnati or Columbus regions, the report said. -By Jon Kamp, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4129; jon.kamp@dowjones.com UK: Insurers seen more involved in credit derivatives. By Tom Burroughes 02/07/2001 Reuters English News Service (C) Reuters Limited 2001. LONDON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Insurance firms are expected to step deeper into the credit derivatives market as they wake up to rich pickings in this field and as splits between financial sectors blur further. Insurers have provided clients with protection against credit problems for decades, so dealing in credit derivatives is a logical next step according to George Sandars, a partner at international law firm Denton Wilde Sapte. "There is a tendency for the regulation of markets to converge. Being so analogous to insurance, it (credit derivatives) is an obvious area for insurers to build business in," said Sandars, who is the author of a Denton Wilde Sapte report on alternative risk transfer. Looking across all credit derivative contracts, the British Bankers' Association last year estimated insurers made up 23 percent of protection sellers and seven percent of protection buyers. Banks continue to dominate the market. A NEW ASSET CLASS A senior trader for a U.S. reinsurance firm in New York, who declined to be named, believes for the foreseeable future insurers will focus on selling credit derivatives to acquire assets rather than buying to them offset liability. "Insurers are taking on such risks for their asset portfolios," he said. However, some insurers are starting to buy credit derivatives too. "We have seen enquiry from insurers to buy credit protection and that has grown in the last year. "Given the significant increase in defaults over the last few months that are out of line with historical experience, the insurers who are comfortable with statistics and mortality are getting a bit concerned," he said. Reinsurance firms have tended to be more heavily involved in trading credit derivatives than insurers because the re-packaging of existing insurance deals meant firms had to look harder at the kind of risks they faced, he said. As for insurers' overall use of credit derivatives, he said, "I wouldn't say they are significant but they are getting to be more important. Most of the credit derivative market is being driven by the banks, mostly for regulatory and capital reasons." His firm estimates insurers take up to 15 percent of total credit derivative business. One type of derivative particularly attractive to insurers are bankruptcy swaps, said Bryan Seyfried, vice president of Enron Credit. Enron Credit is energy firm Enron's credit risk management arm and provides data on bankruptcy swaps. Bankruptcy is a less ambiguous event than default, which is currently plagued by debate over documentation and definitions, and insurers would not face uncertainty about payouts on contracts, he said. In default swaps, insurers tended to prefer deals involving a basket of names rather than an individual one so they can spread risk, Seyfried said. INSURERS' EXPERIENCE Insurers have long experience in offering protection against problems such as default or bankruptcy. Companies like U.S. bond insurer MBIA, for example, guarantee debt for firms such as U.S. utility Southern Californian Edison, which is currently facing a crisis due to soaring energy prices. If an issuer defaults, the insurer will pay the interest and principal amounts to creditors. Traditionally, they also provide surety bonds, which are issued to vendors and which guarantee that a vendor who bids on a contract will carry out the obligation. INDIA: Indian state unable to pay Enron-chief minister. 02/07/2001 Reuters English News Service (C) Reuters Limited 2001. BOMBAY, Feb 7 (Reuters) - The western Indian state of Maharashtra said on Wednesday it was unable to pay U.S. energy giant Enron Corp's 790 billion rupees ($17 million) bill for supplying power to Bombay and other centres. "It is not that Maharashtra state does not want to pay Enron's Dabhol Power Company. We don't have the money," Vilasrao Deshmukh, chief minister of Maharashtra, told a news conference. Enron is owed 790 million rupees by the Maharshtra State Electricity Board. The bill does not include an additional 1.52 billion rupees owed for December. On Tuesday, Enron invoked the Indian federal government's guarantee to pay debts owed by Maharashtra's electricity board, racheting up the stakes in a high-profile dispute. The chief minister said he did not know whether the latest development would affect foreign investment. "We have to wait and watch," he said. Four foreign companies have already pulled out of power projects in India, citing bureaucratic and legal problems. All the money owed is for electricity produced by a power plant built and largely owned by Enron, and supplied to the cash-strapped electricity board. The Maharashtra government has also written to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee appealing to him "to help bail the state out from the (payment) crises", the chief minister said. The Enron power project's first 740 MW phase is already running while the second 1,444 MW phase is expected to be commissioned next year. The state has announced plans for a new committee to review the Enron project and make recommendations to the government. UK: Russian energy trader Crown covets Marc Rich jewels. By Jonathan Leff and Amanda Cooper 02/07/2001 Reuters English News Service (C) Reuters Limited 2001. LONDON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Billionaire and former fugitive Marc Rich is in talks to sell his commodities trading business to Russian-owned Crown Resources, an aggressive trading house seeking to grow its energy unit and branch into metals, industry sources said on Wednesday. "It is definitely being negotiated. Whether it gets done is a different question," an industry source, who declined to be named, said of the deal. "Crown is a very aggressive company and they're looking to bring in whole new teams." Crown, based in Zug, Switzerland, as is Marc Rich Investments, is part of Alfa Group, a Russian industrial and financial conglomerate with activities in a wide spectrum of banking and commodities businesses. Rumours have circulated for months that the company wants to buy Marc Rich Investments, owned by the eponymous billionaire, who fled to Switzerland almost 20 years ago after being indicted on charges of wire fraud, racketeering and income tax evasion. Many industry insiders have speculated that Rich is ready to once again cash out of the market, particularly after his pardon last month by Bill Clinton. Having already developed two successful commodity trading companies - the first one he sold years ago and is now Glencore International AG, a powerhouse in the market - the 66-year-old Rich could be winding down, industry sources say. They note that his company has been in play for some time, as talks with Lucerne-based commodities trader Trafigura were said to have fallen through last year. CROWN GAINS METALS FOOTHOLD As Rich appears set to ease out of the market, Crown is storming in, snapping up entire trading teams and anxious for a move into metals trade. "Our policy is not to comment on any type of discussion on acquisition. I can only say we are a growing organisation," said a spokesman for Crown Resources in London. "We are currently focused on energy trading... We would like to diversify into other commodities as well, including ferrous and non-ferrous metals. There's no sense of urgency for us and it all depends on the right opportunities." Once a member of the powerful triumverate that dominated the physical metals market together with Enron and Glencore, Marc Rich's metals operations have waned in recent years. Following the closure of its ferroalloys trading unit, the company's metals trading operations are now said to be about one third of the size of those of its leading rivals. "I think Marc Rich are fairly thin on the ground in metals now," said one UK trader. Last year's Trafigura rumours coincided with a flurry of resignations from the company's metals trading staff. But compared to the giant stature of the market leaders, Marc Rich is one of the few bite-size acquisitions that could propel Crown into the midst of the metals trade business. Crown would also gain access to Marc Rich's well-regarded name in the industry and the company's contacts, including close relationships in the Mediterranean crude oil market and recently developed ties in the realm of African oil products. "For a Russian company, this gives them a big 'in' on the West," said one industry insider. Crown now focuses largely on marketing some two million tonnes a month of crude from Tyumen Oil, part owned by Alfa Group, giving it a steady diet of oil but little experience in aggressive, speculative trading - Marc Rich's forte. "I believe within the next 24 months we'll reach the upper levels among the independant commodity trading community," said the Crown spokesman. Tridium Inc. Appoints Laura Bacon as Chief Financial Officer 02/07/2001 Business Wire (Copyright © 2001, Business Wire) RICHMOND, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 7, 2001-- Former Fort James Corporate Development Director to Lead Local Software Company's Growing Financial Operations Tridium(TM) Inc., a leading provider of Internet-enabled, automation software infrastructure and applications, today announced the appointment of Laura B. Bacon as Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer. Bacon most recently served as corporate development director for Fort James Corp. (NYSE: FJ) in Richmond, where she was responsible for corporate development and finance activities including domestic and international acquisitions, joint ventures and divestitures. At Tridium, Bacon will oversee the company's finance and human resources functions. She also will be responsible for communications with the financial community. "We are thrilled to have Laura join Tridium as our chief financial officer," said Jerry Frank, CEO of Tridium. "Her financial services background in both domestic and international markets will provide global management and financial leadership for our growing company." "With its advanced technology, Tridium quickly has become a major global provider of Internet-based energy services and building automation applications," said Bacon. "I'm excited to be a part of this growing technology company. The leadership has a strong vision and focus. The company's superior software products allow businesses around the world to better manage and control their enterprises' energy related activities." Bacon currently serves as a Board Member and Membership Chair for the Richmond Association for Corporate Growth. She earned a bachelor's of arts degree from Wake Forest University and a master's in business administration with an emphasis in finance from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. About Tridium Inc. Tridium, Inc. develops and markets a universal software infrastructure, known as the Niagara Framework(TM), that allows companies to build software applications for accessing, automating and controlling smart devices in real-time over the Internet. This open, Java-based framework integrates diverse systems, devices and communication standards into an interoperable, Web-enabled application environment. In addition, Tridium offers the Niagara-powered Vykon(TM) suite, which is specifically designed for building automation and energy services applications. Tridium is a privately held software company headquartered in Richmond, Va., with subsidiaries based in London and Singapore. Venture capital partners include Enron Principle Investments and kRoad Ventures, L.P. The company has established key strategic alliances with leading corporations in the energy services, building control, home automation and industrial control industries. Tridium markets its products to value-added resellers, original equipment manufacturers and a network of Tridium Systems Integrators. Additional information about Tridium is available at http://www.tridium.com. CONTACT: Tridium Dennis Tuft, 804/747-4771 dtuft@tridium.com or Carter Ryley Thomas Jeff Wilson, 804/675-8175 jwilson@crtpr.com
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