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Enron India unit lenders to meet Dec 13

Foreign and local lenders to the $2.9 billion Indian power unit of collapsed Enron Corp will meet on December 13 and 14 in Singapore to discuss ways to revive the stalled power project, an institutional official said on Monday.

The lenders have an exposure of about $1.9 billion in Dabhol Power Company, whose 2,184 megawatt electricity unit in western India has sat idle since June following a dispute with a local utility, its sole customer.

"We are meeting to take stock of the situation especially after the recent developments," the official, who is employed in one of the domestic lenders, told Reuters.

The meeting with be the first since Enron filed for bankruptcy last week.

Domestic financiers led by state-run term lender Industrial Development Bank of India, ICICI Ltd and State Bank of India have an exposure of about $1.4 billion.

Foreign lenders, which include Citibank, Bank of America and ABN AMRO, have lent about $500 million.

The ruined US energy trader owns 65 per cent in Dabhol. General Electric Co and Bechtel hold 10 per cent each, while state-owned utility Maharashtra State Electricity Board has the remaining 15 per cent.

Work on the second phase of the nearly complete venture, once touted as India's single largest foreign investment, was stopped following the plant's shutdown in June.

In the weeks just before Enron's collapse, all the parties involved with Dabhol were looking to resolve the matter by finding a buyer for the plant and adjacent LNG terminal.

Two publicly listed Indian power companies -- Tata Power Co and BSES Ltd -- in particular demonstrated strong interest, but Enron's bankruptcy has now further complicated the process.

Media reports on the weekend said India's Videocon Group, whose interests range from consumer electronics to home appliances, plans to make a bid along with an unnamed partner for the foreign stake.

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