General Electric Co and Bechtel Group Inc have won bankrupt Enron Corp's stake in Dabhol Power Company in India in a US bankruptcy court for $20 million, the Times of India newspaper reported on Saturday.
The move will strengthen their case in negotiations to restart the 2,184-megawatt power plant in western India, which has been lying idle for nearly three years, it said.
Enron stake in Dabhol was 65 percent, while GE and Bechtel each owned 10 percent and loss-making Indian state-run utility Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) owns the rest.
The foreign shareholders had invested almost $1 billion in the plant, the biggest foreign direct investment since India opened its economy in 1991.
Quoting unnamed sources, the paper said GE and Bechtel picked up Enron's share through the New York bankruptcy court late on Thursday. Neither GE nor Bechtel officials could be reached immediately for comment.
The Times of India said GE and Bechtel will increase their stake in Dabhol by only 32 percent in the first phase, making them majority shareholders with a holding of 52 percent.
Enron will still have 33 percent stake "on paper" as the Indian government would have been released of its commitment to compensate Dabhol for any loss of revenue if Enron's stake fell below 26 percent, the paper said.
GE and Bechtel will formally transfer the remaining stake after the dispute over the first phase of the power project is over, it quoted sources as saying.
Dabhol's $2.9 billion plant in western India has been idle since May 2001, when the US energy major shut it down after the project's sole customer, MSEB, fell $240 million behind in payments.
Its first 740 MW phase was up and running and a 1.444 MW second phase was nearly finished when construction was halted after MSEB fell behind in its payments.
Efforts to restart the plant have been delayed by sharp differences between foreign and local lenders to the project.