A last ditch attempt to save the Dhabol Power Corporation, Enron’s Indian subsidiary, has been made by Enron India’s MD, K Wade Kline, who has offered to offload 85 per cent of Enron’s stake at cost, foregoing all penalty and other payments, to whoever wishes to take it over.
Unfortunately, there are no interested takers on the scene. Parties once interested, like AES Corp, and various Indian industrial conglomerates, have long since decided not to get involved, while some foreign investors, AES among them, are actually getting out of India altogether, mainly over the same kind of problems that beset Enron, payment disputes with electricity suppliers.
The offer is structured to take into account progress on the troubled Dhabol Power project. Enron has asked for payment of 40 per cent of the purchase price as a first instalment, 50 per cent at the time of the re-commencement of the second phase, or 1 April 2002, whichever is sooner, and the balance of 10 per cent on completion of phase two of the $1.8 billion project, the 1444 MW stage. However, in its proposal to the Indian prime minister, Enron has said that if the Indian government itself does not directly purchase the foreign equity component, it should guarantee the payment obligation in full.