Peace Software is putting a positive spin on the likely collapse of one-time US partner Enron, saying it may actually benefit the company.
The faltering commodities trading firm, one of the 20 largest companies on the planet, was Peace’s first US customer and three years ago offered to buy the business created by New Zealander Brian Peace. The two companies had worked together on four projects, mainly in the deregulated California power market, and had planned to work in 15 states together as the US energy market was deregulated.
However, Peace last week downplayed any impact from Enron’s fate, saying it has “no direct exposure to the collapse of Enron”. This is because Enron had recently re-organised and had exited the billing market, though it still maintained a Peace licence.
Instead, Peace Software’s marketing executive Denese Van Dyne saw “potential opportunities”.
“Enron’s customers will need to be serviced by other suppliers and this could result in growth opportunities for our large clients and the formation of new business ventures in search of new technology,” Van Dyne says.
Concern in the past week over the financial standing of Enron caused users of its online trading platforms to begin fleeing to rival sites.
Enron announced in October, with vague explanation, that it had taken a $US1 billion after-tax charge against its earnings.
Analysts now expect a bankruptcy filing as a precursor to Enron either going out of business or attempting to reorganise itself.