HOUSTON 2 companies set to replace Enron

Analysts like one post-Enron company but are skeptical of the other.
HOUSTON (AP) -- Enron Corp. is looking to its distant past to build its future.
Pipelines and power plants, dismissed as mundane in Enron's days as a cutting-edge energy trader, are all that's viable as the fallen company makes its way though one of the most complicated and expensive Chapter 11 cases in history.
Those assets and their employees are destined to be part of two new companies, one domestic and the other international, that aim to leave Enron and its history of accounting chicanery behind. Neither will bear the Enron name.
"Part of what the management has done is they were able to put all of what's wrong on the shelf, let investigators look at that, and we focused on what was right -- good, hard assets with predictable cash flow," said Stephen Cooper, the restructuring expert hired more than two years ago to lead the company out of bankruptcy.
The domestic company, CrossCountry Energy Corp., promises honesty, positioning itself as the anti-Enron.
"We will provide value to our customers, a solid return to our investors and are dedicated to earning stakeholder trust through open, honest communication and ethical business practices," its Web site says.
What analysts say
Analysts say CrossCountry, which comprises Enron's whole or part ownership of three North American natural gas pipelines, should be a reliable cash-flow provider.
They see a less stable future for Prisma Energy International LLC, a smattering of pipelines and power generation and distribution assets in 14 countries that face local political, economic and regulatory challenges.
"The [North American] pipelines did not create any of the Enron problems. They were hard assets and run by very reliable people with a very strong record of success," said John Olson, a Sanders Morris Harris analyst who has followed Enron since its inception in 1985.
"I can't say the same for Prisma. It's a collection of mostly Latin American assets which don't have much resonance or attraction in today's marketplace."
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez in New York already has blessed CrossCountry, and Cooper said Enron will seek the same approval for Prisma when the judge signs off on the company's reorganization plan.
That plan proposes paying most creditors about one-fifth of the approximate $66.4 billion they are owed in cash and stock in the companies.
Enron's approximate 24,000 creditors are voting on the plan, and a final confirmation hearing is scheduled for April 20.
Once the plan is confirmed, Enron can work toward distributing equity in the companies, which Cooper said could be done by the end of this year. Then Enron will disappear, its near-worthless stock will be canceled, and the new companies will be independent entities.