Enron bankruptcy claims top $900-bil, case costs $330-mil a year

New York (Platts)--6Jan2004

Failed energy giant Enron has filed another amendment to its overdue Chapter 11 reorganization plan, disclosing that 24,000 creditor claims filed against the company and its myriad of subsidiaries have topped a mind-boggling $900-bil. And that does not count unquantified damage claims. That figure is up from $310-mil of claims tallied when Enron filed its first Chapter 11 plan last July.

Of that $900-bil, Enron said in a court filing Monday Judge Arthur Gonzalez has disallowed 5,600 claims totaling $111-bil It has objections pending on another 3,000 claims totaling $618-bil with $15-bil of other claims in dispute. That still leaves more than $150-bil of claims. Enron plans "additional objections" to a "substantial portion" of remaining claims. Its bankruptcy plan envisions a reduction of allowed claims to only $67-bil, on which its $12-bil of remaining assets is expected to pay about 20 cts on the dollar.

Costs of administering the mammoth bankruptcy case, Enron disclosed, are running $330-mil a year. At that rate the case has already clocked almost $700-mil since it was filed in December 2001 and would surpass $1-bil by the end of this year. Enron failed to meet a November deadline for soliciting approvals for its initial reorganization plan and has now sought an extension until April 2004, with further delays possible.

Its latest plan increases slightly the planned payout to unsecured creditors of parent Enron to more than 17 cts on the dollar from an earlier 14.4 cts. Unsecured creditors of trading arm Enron North America would get just over 20 cts on the dollar, up from an earlier planned 18.3 cts. But those payouts are based on yet more massive claims rejection.