Goldman Sachs Group Inc. auctioned off around $53 million of claims it held against a bankrupt Texas power cooperative as distressed debt traders bet the government will foot the bill for the state’s energy crisis, Bloomberg News reported. Goldman sold its claim on Brazos Electric Power Cooperative Inc. this week at 80 to 85 cents on the dollar, said the people, who asked not to be identified because details of the auction are private. The bank is one of Brazos’s largest unsecured creditors. It’s owed the money for interest rate swaps and other power derivatives contracts that its commodities trading unit J. Aron & Co. signed with Brazos before a winter storm in February upended the Texas power market, saddling the electricity provider with billions in liabilities it couldn’t repay.
