Enron gets go ahead to sell pipes

Enron's fall shocked America

Failed US energy giant Enron has been given permission to sell its most prized remaining asset - its natural gas pipeline arm CrossCountry Energy.

A US federal bankruptcy judge on Friday approved Enron's agreement to see the US pipelines for $2bn (£1.6bn) to consortium CCE Holdings.

Enron chose the CCE offer last week in a closed-door auction, and the sale is expected to be completed by December.

CCE is a joint venture of Southern Union and Commercial Finance Energy.

Corporate scandal

Enron is also to sell another subsidiary business - Portland General Electric - leaving it with just one company - Prisma Energy International - which has small-scale pipeline and power assets in 14 countries.

Assuming all the sales are successful, Enron's creditors will eventually get about $12bn - 92% in cash and 8% in Prisma shares. Shareholders will get nothing and the Enron name is likely to disappear.

Enron's collapse into bankruptcy in the wake of a false accounting scandal stunned corporate America.