HOUSTON — Executives of Dynegy Inc. and Enron Corp. think that their plan to merge the nation's two dominant energy marketing companies will overcome federal antitrust scrutiny, leading to a completed deal by next summer.

        “We really are confident that up and down the line, we will be able to convince (federal regulators) this is in the best interest of the energy industry and the two companies,” said Chuck Watson, chairman and chief executive officer of Dynegy.

        Investors pleased with the deal to bail out troubled Enron sent the shares of both companies soaring — Enron shares closed up 61 cents at $9.24, and Dynegy shares rose $5.55 to $44.31.

        Steve Bergstrom, Dynegy's president said the most regulatory scrutiny would come from Federal Energy Regulatory Commission but that he expected all antitrust hurdles would be cleared within the next six to nine months.

        The deal, worth at least $9 billion based on the stock prices of both, was announced Friday. Dynegy will also assume $13 billion of Enron debt.

        Enron became a takeover target after its stock plunged about 80 percent in recent weeks because of concerns that the nation's top buyer and seller of natural gas wasn't revealing serious financial problems to shareholders.

        Dynegy officials pledged Monday that they won't tolerate the sort of financial practices that prompted Enron to acknowledge last week that it overstated earnings by about 20 percent since 1997 and kept more than half a billion dollars in debt off the books.

        Those financial practices included business partnerships now under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

        “Dynegy will manage the new company in the way we've managed the old company” said Rob Doty, Dynegy's chief financial officer.

        After the merger is completed, Mr. Watson will serve as chairman and chief executive.

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