FieldCentrix Acquired by Solvent Enron Unit
By ANDREW SIMONS
A unit of Enron Corp. has bought a majority stake in Irvine-based FieldCentrix Inc., one of Orange County’s most highly funded startups.
FieldCentrix now is an “unconsolidated affiliate” of Enron Energy Services, the retail energy arm of bankrupt Enron, according to Judy Johnson, FieldCentrix’s senior vice president of marketing. Specifically, FieldCentrix folded into Enron Facilities Services, one of the only portions of the energy wholesaler not to file for bankruptcy protection along with the parent company.
FieldCentrix had some misgivings about publicizing its Enron tie because of its high-profile December bankruptcy filing.
“Enron hasn’t received the best press over the past few months,” Johnson said. “And we want to lead with the FieldCentrix name because it has such brand equity.”
As an unconsolidated affiliate, FieldCentrix is one of Enron’s off-the-book ventures, some of which led to the company’s financial downfall.
How Enron’s bankruptcy proceedings could impact FieldCentrix is unclear. While Enron Facilities itself isn’t part of the filing, the unit could be sold off as part of Enron’s reorganization bid. If Enron’s filing gets converted to a Chapter 7 proceeding, a sale would be all but certain, according to attorney Rick Weiner, managing partner with Irvine’s The Busch Firm.
As a result of the Enron investment, FieldCentrix now is part of a new company, the legal name of which is Service Coholding Inc. But FieldCentrix plans to retain its name, Johnson said. The company is set to stay in Irvine, and Tracy Price, FieldCentrix’s chief executive, is expected to stay in his position.
“FieldCentrix is still being run as basically an independent company,” Johnson said.
FieldCentrix designs systems that manage field service operations using the Internet, a company’s internal computer system and handheld devices carried by service technicians.
Details are scarce on what the new company will do, but it appears it will combine technology developed at FieldCentrix and services available from Enron Facilities, which oversees maintenance at baseball stadiums, airports and other facilities.
FieldCentrix’s system, launched in 1998, handles scheduling and dispatching appointments, central office updates and other functions. It even maps out the addresses of the next stop.
The company also offers software that doesn’t require handheld computers. The system, which comes as a suite of four building-block components that can be used with or without each other, is designed to make better use of technicians’ time. It allows them to fit more service calls into a workday.
FieldCentrix has had been one of OC’s most closely watched startups, having fetched nearly $60 million in funding in the past few years. The company’s most recent funding round was completed in August 2000. Grainger Technology Partners, the investment arm of maintenance and repair supply seller W.W. Grainger Inc., led the deal along with Sigma Partners of Menlo Park, which had funded earlier rounds at FieldCentrix. Santa Monica-based TMCT Ventures also participated. Price, a co-founder of FieldCentrix, took the reins from fellow co-founder David Key, bringing his experience at Mesa Energy Services with him. The company had eyed an initial public offering last year, but the market for new stock issues never rebounded.
