FIAT DEALERS GARAGES

But her American youth had been marred by drug abuse and when, as a middle-aged mother of four, she was caught smuggling crack cocaine in her handbag into an embassy function, it was clear Eva Rausing was leading a double life.

That life ended in tragedy when she was found dead, aged 48, in her London mansion on Monday, after her husband was arrested for drug offences. He may have lived with her body for days.

The six-storey, white-stucco townhouse on Cadogan Place, one of the city's most desirable addresses, was cordoned off with blue and white tape on Wednesday as detectives came and went, watched by journalists. "Police Line," it read. "Do Not Cross"

It was an unusual scene for a well-tended garden square in exclusive Belgravia, and one that symbolised the fracture at the heart of Eva Rausing's privileged life.

She and her husband, Hans Kristian Rausing, 49, an heir to the Tetra Pak packaging fortune, enjoyed a life of leisure and luxury open only to the very, very rich.

Hans Kristian's Swedish grandfather Ruben invented the now ubiquitous foil-lined drinks carton after his wife complained about heavy glass milk bottles. Ruben's sons, Hans and Gad, turned their father's firm into a global empire worth billions.

Hans Rausing took his wife, two daughters and only son to England three decades ago to avoid high Swedish inheritance tax and, at 86, is said by Forbes to be the 88th richest person on the planet with assets estimated at $10 billion.

But for all their wealth, Hans Kristian and his American wife, who first met at a U.S. drugs rehab clinic in the early 1990s, could not shake off their problems with addiction.

PRINCE CHARLES "SADDENED"

Hans Kristian was arrested on Monday on suspicion of drugs possession after driving his car erratically. When police later searched the couple's house they found Eva's body in a bedroom. Hans Kristian is under arrest and receiving medical treatment.

British media, apparently citing police sources, said his wife may have lain dead in the house for a week or more. Police officially neither confirmed nor denied that the 49-year-old man they say they are holding is Hans Kristian Rausing.

The couple have four children, all under 18.

Photographs of the Rausings arm in arm and smiling at society parties, and one of a laughing Eva in a bright pink dress and sunglasses with her blond hair tousled, appeared in the British newspapers after her death was announced.

In a poignant juxtaposition, a more recent snapshot showed a gaunt and frowning Eva, while another showed her husband hunched forward and scruffily dressed. Both look older than their age.

Eva Rausing's death was met with an outpouring of emotion from charities to which she had donated millions of pounds over the years, including many involved in the fight against drugs.

"I was absolutely devastated and shocked," said Nick Barton, chief executive of Action on Addiction, who knew her.

He described her as engaging and conscientious in her work as a trustee of the charity, whose patron is the Duchess of Cambridge, wife of second in line to the throne, Prince William. Barton said he had never noticed signs of Rausing's own problem with addiction, but said that was not surprising.

"I think sometimes, some people who suffer from the condition get tarred with a particular brush and we forget that they are human beings with talents and intelligence and generosity, much like other people but who just suffer from a particular condition," he said.

The Rausings' philanthropy had led them into the most rarefied of social circles. They had donated to one of Prince Charles's charities and were known to the heir to the throne, who said he was "saddened" by the news.

"WRONG TURN IN MY LIFE"

It was not, however, the first time the Rausings had come to the attention of British police, and newspapers, over drugs.

Four years ago, Eva Rausing was stopped on her way into a reception at the heavily protected U.S. Embassy. In her bag, along with heroin and a banned stimulant, was crack cocaine, the "ghetto drug" normally associated with the poorest of addicts.

More drugs, including cocaine, were found in her car and at the Cadogan Place house. Charges were dropped and she issued a contrite statement promising to seek help and saying "I consider myself to have taken a wrong turn in the course of my life."

Her husband could probably have said the same, according to Peter Andersson, a Swedish journalist and co-author of "Tetra - The History of the Rausing Dynasty".

He told Reuters that Hans Kristian and his two sisters grew up in Sweden without extravagances as their father wanted to ground them in strong values unadulterated by extreme wealth.

The siblings did not wish to spend their lives working for the family company so Hans sold his share of it to his brother in the 1990s and Hans Kristian has never been involved.

"He has never had a job in his life," said Andersson, adding that the young man had studied for a year but never graduated.

"Instead, he went off to India to find himself. He came back from there seriously ravaged by drugs. We are talking 1986 or 1987. What he did in India is wrapped in mystery, but he came back as a serious drug addict."

It was after that Indian journey that Hans Kristian went into rehab and met Eva, daughter of American businessman Tom Kemeny. He and his wife Nancy Kemeny described her in a statement on her death as "a devoted wife for 20 years and mother of four much-loved and wonderful children.

"She bravely fought her health issues for many years."

Those battles she once described herself as falling into a "hole": a posting on the social networking site Myspace, apparently written by Eva Rausing in the year or two before her run-in with the U.S. embassy security, reads:

"I fell back into the same hole as before and have been there for nearly 7 years.

"I once read that I would have 7 bad years," she said, before ending the post on a note of hope that turned out to be misplaced. "I'm hoping for 7 good years, starting 2007."

(Additional reporting by Niklas Pollard in Stockholm; Writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

By Brian Grow and Joshua Schneyer

July 11 (Reuters) - As Chesapeake Energy Corp and Encana Corp face antitrust investigations, emails reviewed by Reuters indicate that top executives of the two rivals shared sensitive information that gave Chesapeake the upper hand in deals with Michigan land owners.

The emails show the competitors traded information about whether Encana was halting new land leasing in Michigan in 2010, and the information prompted Chesapeake to dramatically change its leasing strategy in subsequent weeks and helped send Michigan land prices tumbling from record highs.

In the days after learning that Encana was paring back, Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon ordered Chesapeake to renegotiate or delay closing on at least 10 deals that his company was negotiating with major land lease holders in Michigan, documents reviewed by Reuters show.

Antitrust experts said such discussions could add fodder to probes by the Justice Department and Michigan authorities, who are exploring whether the two companies violated state or federal laws by discussing how to suppress land prices in the state.

They said the emails raise collusion concerns, given that two direct competitors appear to have exchanged critical data. “Information exchange” is not explicitly illegal under U.S. antitrust law, unlike bid-rigging and price-fixing. But it has been found by courts to be anti-competitive when the sharing is done privately, doesn’t promote efficiency and involves information of value to customers – in this case, Michigan land owners.

“It’s highly suspect,” said Maurice Stucke, a former antitrust attorney with the Department of Justice. Said Harry First, another former Justice Department antitrust attorney: “Asking your competitor whether they are going to stop leasing in, or exit, the Michigan market is an offer to collude.”

Another antitrust expert, however, played down the significance of McClendon's overture. McClendon's approach to Encana simply may have been an effort at gathering market intelligence, which would be “competitively benign,” said Daniel Crane, a professor of antitrust law at the University of Michigan.

Chesapeake is America’s second-largest natural gas producer. Encana is Canada’s largest natural gas company. The two were fierce rivals in early 2010 in Michigan, where the Collingwood shale formation was once considered one of America’s most promising oil and gas plays.

The Justice Department launched an investigation earlier this month after a Reuters report showed the competitors talked in emails about dividing up nine Michigan land owners and counties in an effort to prevent “acreage prices from continuing to push up,” and establishing “bidding responsibilities” ahead of an October 2010 Michigan state land auction.

By June 2010, the price to lease prime land surpassed $2,000 an acre in parts of Northern Michigan. In the months after Chesapeake and Encana began talking about splitting up Michigan territory, prices fell as much as 90 percent. In the same period, the price of natural gas futures fell some 20 percent.

Price-fixing, bid-rigging and market allocations by competitors are illegal in the United States under the Sherman Antitrust Act, and companies can be fined up to $100 million for each offense.

Encana said it held talks with Chesapeake without reaching an agreement on a joint venture. It has begun an internal inquiry led by the chairman of its board of directors. Chesapeake also acknowledged it held talks with Encana but said the two companies never consummated any agreement and never bid jointly.

The antitrust investigation is the latest blow to Chesapeake's McClendon, one of the industry’s most dynamic executives.

Reuters reported in May that McClendon arranged $1.55 billion in financing from a major financier of Chesapeake and others by mortgaging his stakes in company wells. The news agency later disclosed that McClendon operated a private $200 million hedge fund from Chesapeake offices.

In the wake of those reports, Chesapeake’s board stripped him of his chairmanship, and the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission opened inquiries.

A half dozen additional emails reviewed by Reuters indicate that avoiding a bidding battle with Encana wasn’t McClendon’s only goal. The Chesapeake CEO also sought to learn whether – and why - Encana was easing up its effort to acquire land in Michigan. Such information appears to have helped shape how Chesapeake dealt with land owners.

In one case, a July 20, 2010 email shows, McClendon told one of his land leasing agents his rationale for slashing prices offered to Michigan land owners. “Very sorry about this, am sure some conversations will not be pleasant, but with ECA gone, we have the ability to do this and I can assure you we have the need to do it,” he wrote. ECA is the stock abbreviation for Encana, based in Calgary.

The conversations about Encana’s strategy in Michigan appear to have begun in mid July 2010, when McClendon reached out to Encana’s U.S. president, Jeff Wojahn, to ask whether anonymous rumors on an internet chat room were true.

In an email to Wojahn on July 16, McClendon attached comments from the online forum that claimed Encana may be stopping its leasing efforts in the Collingwood shale. McClendon wrote: “Jeff: does this mean no more drilling and no more interest in joining forces down the road?”

Three days later, Wojahn replied to McClendon. “Aubrey, we have decided to discontinue further leasing at this time,” Wojahn wrote. “We will reassess our position after the summer.”

McClendon responded quickly: “Are you wanting to exit the play entirely? Have 5 minutes to discuss today?”

Wojahn emailed a few hours later: “We are not exiting the play but rather we are stopping further leasing. At this time we are happy with our current position. We will reassess this fall as we evaluate the October state sale.”

Whether the two spoke by phone is unclear. But Wojahn’s written confirmation prompted orders from McClendon, emails show.

That same day, July 19, McClendon told top deputies and agents in Michigan: “With Encana pulling away we should be able to be very aggressive in extending some extension dates and not risk losing the deals, agree?” By that, he apparently meant Chesapeake would delay lease-signings even further into the future than they already had been pushed. McClendon now had reason to believe that his top competitor for land in Michigan – Encana – wouldn’t swoop in to make the deals in the meantime.

Chesapeake declined to comment on the discussions with Encana, but the emails do indicate that McClendon had been contemplating cutting back leasing land in Michigan days before the confirmation from Wojahn.

Land-lease prices in Michigan soon began to fall after the email exchange, according to the review of Chesapeake emails and interviews with land owners. The discussion came amid more specific talks by the rivals about forming what they called a joint venture.

In those talks, the companies discussed how to avoid bidding against each other in public and private land deals. In one email, McClendon directed a subordinate that it was time “to smoke a peace pipe” with Encana “if we are bidding each other up.”

(Reporting By Brian Grow and Joshua Schneyer; editing by Blake Morrison and Michael Williams)

((blake.morrison@thomsonreuters.com)) Keywords: CHESAPEAKE ENCANA/LAND

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