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Judge to rule Friday on Enron sale

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -- A ruling on the sale of Enron Corp.'s wholesale business to UBS Warburg has been delayed until Friday, court documents revealed.

Enron attorneys delayed the release of the final details three times Monday with the information now scheduled for unveiling Tuesday at 7 a.m. EST, according to a letter filed with the bankruptcy court by law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

Weil Gotshal is serving as legal advisers to Houston-based Enron.

Judge Arthur Gonzalez had been expected to rule Tuesday on the sale. That decision was then delayed to Thursday and now is set for Friday at 11 a.m. ET, court documents said.

UBS, which beat out Citigroup's Salomon Smith Barney, will not pay Enron any cash upfront for the business, a source familiar with the situation said.

The humbled energy trader will also not have an equity stake in the wholesale business, the source said. Enron had been expected to hold a 49 percent stake in the unit, with UBS owning 51 percent.

Instead, UBS will give Enron and its creditors one-third of the profit before taxes, the Houston Chronicle reported Monday.

Once the dominant U.S. energy company, Houston-based Enron quickly lost credibility on Wall Street after it was learned that top company officials had engaged in improper accounting practices. The energy trader filed the largest bankruptcy in United States history last December. Judge Gonzalez ruled Friday that the Enron bankruptcy will stay in New York and will not be moved to Houston.

Since December, Enron has been negotiating with various bidders to sell its wholesale operations, which accounted for 90 percent of its revenue. Final bids for Enron's energy trading business were submitted last week with talks continuing up until Friday before UBS finally won.

Shares of Enron were halted last Friday at 67 cents because of the sale, and were still suspended on Monday.

UBS is expected to hire most of Enron's 800 trading and marketing employees that the energy company has in Houston, the source said. The bank will also pay rent for its office space.

UBS will also have the opportunity to reduce Enron's stake of the profit. In the third, fourth and fifth years of the deal, UBS will get options to cut Enron's share from 33 percent to 22 percent, then to 11 percent and finally to nothing, the person said.

Enron declined to comment, while UBS could not be reached for comment.