[JURIST] In Thursday's corporations and securities law news, Enron Corp. has closed the $2 billion sale of its interest in three natural gas pipelines to CCE Holdings LLC, a joint venture of Southern Union Co. and GE Commercial Finance Energy Financial Services. The sale was approved in September by US Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzales. Read the Southern Union press release here. The $1.25 billion sale of Portland General Electric, Enron's Pacific Northwest utility, to a holding company backed by Texas Pacific Group is still pending and only awaits approval by Oregon regulators. Judge Gonzalez approved that sale in July. Read Enron's final bankruptcy plan here. Read the court-appointed bankruptcy examiner's final report here [PDF]. Paper Chase has continuing coverage of the Enron collapse. AP has more.

In other news, Qwest Communications has began to negotiate a settlement over stockholder lawsuits which allege the company misled its investors. The settlement could reach upwards of $700 million. Qwest paid a $250 million fine to settle claims of massive accounting fraud with the SEC just last month. The Rocky Mountain News has more…. California Attorney General Bill Lockyer announced Franklin Templeton Investments has agreed to pay $18 million to settle claims that the company failed to tell investors it paid brokers who recommended its funds. Read the California AG press release here. Read the Franklin Templeton press release here. AP has more…. Italian bank Sanpaolo and Franco-Belgian group Dexia have confirmed talks of a potential merger or an asset management deal. A merger between the banks would create Europe's fourth-largest bank. The Financial Times has more…. As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, Russian authorities Thursday arrested a manager at a key subsidiary of Yukos on charges of embezzling $766,000 which was disguised as charitable contributions and are likely to enhance the already sizable back taxes owed by the company. Paper Chase has background on Russia's case against Yukos. AFP has more…. CALPERS, the largest pension fund in the US, announced it will tender its shares of PeopleSoft to Oracle thereby accepting the hostile takeover bid. Reuters has more.