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Enron may have to sell Dabhol stake at half price

Embattled US power major Enron may be forced to sell its stake in the Dabhol power plant at around half a billion dollars instead of the asking price of a billion dollars, a report in Washington said.

Tata Power and BSES, the Indian bidders for Enron's stake in the 2184 MW Dhabol power plant were reportedly willing to pay only half of the asking price, which stood over a billion dollars, the New York Times reported.

If the lenders and prospective buyers adopt a take it or leave it line, Enron may have little choice but to accept their offer and swallow a huge loss on the controversial project, it said.

"It is bound to be a distress sale," one banker told the paper.

Though Enron's chairman and chief executive Kenneth L Lay was earlier quoted as saying that India would have to face economic sanctions if the government did not create a favourable climate for the sale of Enron's stake, the paper said, "Enron now will find little lobbying traction in either Washington or New Delhi".

"The coalition-building diplomacy of the war in Afghanistan makes it unlikely that the Bush administration would agree to press India on Enron's behalf," the paper said.

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