Enron creditors get 53% payout

Defunct Enron Corp creditors have received $21.8 billion in cash and stock so far, with money from lawsuits and settlements helping to give general unsecured creditors a payback three times higher than the estate had projected, a report shows.

Once the biggest US energy trader, Enron filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and won approval of a liquidation plan in 2004. The 53 per cent payback to general unsecured creditors was triple the 17 per cent recovery estimated in the plan, according to a report by Enron Creditors Recovery Corp, set up to liquidate the company’s remaining operations and assets. Enron investors in December 2008 began receiving their share of $7.2 billion from settlements with the failed energy trader’s lenders, auditors and directors.

A judge that year approved a $1.7-billion settlement with Citigroup Inc, sued by investors as part of a move to hold lenders liable for the fraud that destroyed the company. Citigroup also agreed to give up an estimated $4.3 billion in claims against Enron to settle allegations about its role in the company’s collapse.