Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Clown-Free Zone... sorry, no clowns allowed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Earlie who wrote (145118)	1/22/2002 11:20:02 AM
From: Ken98	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

More Enron goo (any guesses who the "silent" Whitewing partner was?): <<Documents describing one of the largest such structures – a partnership called Whitewing, established by Enron and a still-unidentified party – illustrate how Enron favored outside investors while not fully informing shareholders of billions of dollars of potential liabilities. [...]Whitewing's role was to buy an assortment of power plants, pipeline and water projects in India, Turkey, Spain and Latin America that Enron had snapped up through the mid-1990s. Whitewing, as described in the partnership document, was responsible for reselling the assets as Enron focused on becoming a trader of financial contracts rather than an owner of hard energy assets. But Enron also guaranteed Whitewing's investors that if the power plants and other assets were sold at a loss, Enron would make up the difference with shares of its common stock, or cash if necessary. As of November, that requirement stood at more than $2 billion – a $2 billion obligation that shareholders didn't know about. [...] Such arrangements were "designed to give the safer return to the outside investors and put substantially more risk on the [Enron] shareholders," said Clayton Vernon, an economist and manager at Enron who was fired after he wrote an e-mail criticizing Enron chairman Kenneth L. Lay last October. Whitewing was the center of an aviary of entities with bird names – Osprey, Condor, Egret, Peregrine and Blue Heron were all linked to Whitewing. Many other Enron-related partnerships were clustered together to carry out billion-dollar financing deals and given colorful but unrevealing names. Jedi, Chewco, Obi and Kenobi Inc. followed a Star Wars theme. Rawhide, Cactus, Sundance, Ponderosa and Mojave had a Western flavor. [...] Whitewing was owned jointly by Enron and an unnamed partner. Whitewing borrowed the $1.1 billion from private investors, who received interest-bearing notes from a trust named Osprey, controlled by Whitewing. [...]>> dallasnews.com Given the veil of secrecy that surrounded these partnerships (not even Ms. Watkins knew any of the parties it appears) it is reasonable to think that there are a number of well-connected politicos on the partnership roster. No wonder there was so much shredding going on. Also given the size and complexity of these partnerships one or more investment banks were involved. This whole thing is going to get even uglier. EDIT: <<The private-offering memo "prohibits" prospective investors from copying the document or disclosing its terms. The offering was managed by the New York firm Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities -- now part of Credit Suisse First Boston -- Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank and UBS Warburg LLC as co-managers. Credit Suisse spokesman Pen Pendleton said he could not comment on the transaction because of confidentiality commitments to clients. "This transaction was a private placement," he said. The other three institutions also declined comment.>> washingtonpost.com