Enron Mail

From:gene.humphrey@enron.com
To:jeff.skilling@enron.com
Subject:Datacentric Broadband
Cc:
Bcc:
Date:Fri, 11 May 2001 08:14:00 -0700 (PDT)




Jeff,

After your call I thought I should give you some background on Datacentric
Broadband (DCB).

1. The company was founded by Leslie Anderson a woman entrepreneur in Conroe
Texas. Leslie continues to be the largest non institutional shareholder and
is Chairman of the Board. The president is Gary Remy, a Hispanic, whom you
met recently at the YPO gathering.

2. DCB is in the broadband wireless access market focusing on smaller cities
in Texas. They have deployed in nine different locations and have a strategy
to grow from a regional player to a national player. The market they are in
requires no license fees and is one where being first to locate in a city is
critical to success.

3. We have invested $2 million in DCB to date and brought in Redstone
Investors who also invested $2 million. Redstone should continue to
participate with us in any future investments we make in DCB.

4. We have talked to Kevin Garland to solicit interest from him, however he
made it clear that DCB was not in his target market and he was not interested
in the investment.

5. DCB has engaged Arthur Andersen to help raise additional funds for
continued growth. We along with AA have been talking to other potential
investors and have found a receptive yet cautious reception.

6. About two weeks ago we were approached by representatives of Union Pacific
Railroad and Norfolk Southern Railroad with a proposal to invest up to $75
million in DCB over the next five years beginning with an initial investment
of $15 million. U P asked if Enron would be willing to invest a similar
amount alongside them to help DCB grow into a national broadband wireless
access provider to smaller cities. After this request I asked Ken Rice if EBS
would be interested in an investment in DCB either in conjunction with U P or
on a stand alone basis. My hope was that EBS would view DCB as a strategic
fit to their business model and would be interested in a much closer
relationship with DCB perhaps leading to a buyout. ( Although EBS and DCB
are in different businesses I know that the trading group of EBS has used DCB
to provide liquidity and last mile access for many of their trades.) Ken's
response was that EBS was not interested in an investment in DCB and he
didn't see a strategic fit between the two companies.

7. We have also talked to Lou's group, the Xcelerator, and to LJM about
investments in DCB and it appears that LJM is very interested in committing
funds however I don't think they will be ready in time to match U P's
commitment.

8. At a subsequent meeting with U P we told them not to expect any
additional funds from Enron other that a possible $2 to $3 million from
ourselves since that is all of the capacity that we have left for this
investment. They are very disappointed that Enron does not see the strategic
potential of this business the way they do, but nevertheless are still moving
forward in their efforts to invest in DCB in the $75 million range. We are
currently in the due diligence process with U P and hope to wrap up a deal
structure by the end of May.

We have solicited the support of other Enron groups all along the way while
making our investment decision. I truly believe that DCB is in a space that
could be very integral to the success of EBS and had hoped that we could work
together more closely, however EBS does not see a strategic fit with DCB. We
will continue to develop relationships with other strategic and financial
partners in order to enhance and grow the value of our investment in DCB.

I will be happy to talk to you further about DCB and our investment. We
will of course seek your approval for any additional investments that we make
in DCB. Please call me if you have any additional questions.

Gene