ATLANTA, May 16 GA-Mirant-Repurchase
ATLANTA, May 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mirant Corporation (NYSE: MIR)
today announced the completion of the accelerated share repurchase ("ASR")
program with JP Morgan that it announced on November 9, 2007. The ASR program
is a component of Mirant's plan to return $4.6 billion of cash to its
stockholders.
Under the terms of the ASR agreement, Mirant delivered $1.0 billion to JP
Morgan in return for 26,659,557 shares, based upon the closing price of the
common stock on November 9, 2007 of $37.51 per share. The number of shares
purchased by Mirant under the ASR agreement was subject to an adjustment based
on the weighted average price of Mirant common stock during the term of the
agreement minus a set discount. JP Morgan will deliver an additional 682,387
shares of common stock to Mirant resulting in a total of 27,341,944 shares
purchased under the ASR program for an average price of $36.57 per share.
Mirant previously announced it will return a total of $4.6 billion to its
stockholders. The program consists of the ASR program plus open market
purchases of $3.6 billion. "We are pleased with the final result of the
accelerated share repurchase program," said Edward R. Muller, chairman and
chief executive officer. "We are continuing to return cash through open market
purchases which we think are an efficient method for returning the remaining
cash to stockholders, but as we go forward we will continue to evaluate the
efficiencies of all methods for returning the cash to stockholders."
Mirant is a competitive energy company that produces and sells electricity
in the United States. Mirant owns or leases approximately 10,097 megawatts of
electric generating capacity. The company operates an asset management and
energy marketing organization from its headquarters in Atlanta. For more
information, please visit www.mirant.com
Cautionary Language Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements included herein involve forward-looking
information. Mirant cautions that these statements involve known and unknown
risks and that there can be no assurance that such results will occur. There
are various important factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements, such as,
but not limited to, legislative and regulatory initiatives regarding
deregulation, regulation or restructuring of the industry of generating,
transmitting and distributing electricity (the "electricity industry");
changes in state, federal and other regulations affecting the electricity
industry (including rate and other regulations); changes in, or changes in the
application of, environmental and other laws and regulations to which Mirant
and its subsidiaries and affiliates are or could become subject; the failure
of Mirant's plants to perform as expected, including outages for unscheduled
maintenance or repair; changes in market conditions, including developments in
the supply, demand, volume and pricing of electricity and other commodities
in the energy markets; changes in the credit standards of market participants
or the extent and timing of the entry of additional competition in Mirant's
markets or those of its subsidiaries and affiliates; increased margin
requirements, market volatility or other market conditions that could increase
Mirant's obligations to post collateral beyond amounts that are expected;
Mirant's inability to access effectively the over-the-counter and exchange-
based commodity markets or changes in commodity market liquidity or other
commodity market conditions, which may affect Mirant's ability to engage in
asset management and proprietary trading activities as expected, or result in
material extraordinary gains or losses from open positions in fuel oil or
other commodities; deterioration in the financial condition of Mirant's
counterparties and the resulting failure to pay amounts owed to Mirant or to
perform obligations due to Mirant beyond collateral posted; hazards customary
to the power generation industry and the possibility that Mirant may not have
adequate insurance to cover losses as a result of such hazards; price
mitigation strategies employed by ISOs or RTOs that reduce Mirant's revenue
and may result in a failure to compensate Mirant's generation units adequately
for all their costs; changes in the rules used to calculate capacity and
energy payments; legal and political challenges to the rules used to calculate
capacity payments in the markets in which we operate; volatility in Mirant's
gross margin as a result of Mirant's accounting for derivative financial
instruments used in its asset management activities and volatility in its cash
flow from operations resulting from working capital requirements, including
collateral, to support its asset management and proprietary trading
activities; Mirant's inability to enter into intermediate and long-term
contracts to sell power and procure fuel, including its transportation, on
terms and prices acceptable to it; the inability of Mirant's operating
subsidiaries to generate sufficient cash flow to support its operations;
Mirant's ability to borrow additional funds and access capital markets;
strikes, union activity or labor unrest; weather and other natural phenomena,
including hurricanes and earthquakes; the cost and availability of emissions
allowances; Mirant's ability to obtain adequate supply and delivery of fuel
for its facilities; curtailment of operations due to transmission constraints;
environmental regulations that restrict Mirant's ability or render it
uneconomic to operate its business, including regulations related to the
emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases; Mirant's inability to
complete construction of emissions reduction equipment by January 2010 to meet
the requirements of the Maryland Healthy Air Act, which may result in reduced
unit operations and reduced cash flows and revenues from operations; war,
terrorist activities or the occurrence of a catastrophic loss; Mirant's
consolidated indebtedness and the possibility that Mirant or its subsidiaries
may incur additional indebtedness in the future; restrictions on the ability
of Mirant's subsidiaries to pay dividends, make distributions or otherwise
transfer funds to Mirant, including restrictions on Mirant North America
contained in its financing agreements and restrictions on Mirant Mid-Atlantic
contained in its leveraged lease documents, which may affect Mirant's ability
to access the cash flow of those subsidiaries to make debt service and other
payments; and the disposition of the pending litigation described in Mirant's
Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2008, filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
Mirant undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-
looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise. The
foregoing review of factors that could cause Mirant's actual results to differ
materially from those contemplated in the forward-looking statements included
in this news release should be considered in connection with information
regarding risks and uncertainties that may affect Mirant's future results
included in Mirant's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission at
www.sec.gov.
Stockholder inquiries:
+1-678-579-7777
SOURCE Mirant Corporation
