Overview of Pension Issues
Enron and Employee Retirement Plans
Formed in 1985 from a merger of Houston Natural Gas and Internorth, Enron Corporation was the first nationwide natural gas pipeline network. Over time, the firm’s business focus shifted from the regulated transportation of natural gas to unregulated energy trading markets. The guiding principle seems to have been that there was more money to be made in buying and selling financial contracts linked to the value of energy assets (and to other economic variables) than in actual ownership of physical assets. Until late 2001, nearly all observers — including professional Wall Street analysts — regarded this transformation as an outstanding…
