Mirant

[Joe Stocks]

Shareholders Demand Fairness in Mirant Bankruptcy Hearing
PR Newswire - April 18, 2005 12:30
Shareholders' Rights Group Rallies at Fort Worth Federal Courthouse Before Bankruptcy Hearing


FORT WORTH, Texas, April 18, 2005 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Today, members of the Mirant Shareholders' Rights Group LLC, representing investors who are at risk of losing life savings and retirement funds as a result of Mirant Corp.'s (OTC Pink Sheets: MIRKQ) bankruptcy filing, rallied in front of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Fort Worth, Texas to demand fairness in the Mirant bankruptcy. Many shareholders traveled from around the United States to attend the event.

The rally coincided with the beginning of a valuation hearing before the Honorable Judge D. Michael Lynn. Throughout the course of the hearing, holders of Mirant equity will argue that Mirant is deliberately attempting to undervalue the company in order to enrich the management team and the company's largest creditors. Shareholders believe that these actions are a flagrant abuse of the bankruptcy process.

"Mirant's reorganization plan leaves shareholders, like me, who lost their investment, out in the cold," says Mirant shareholder Al Kroemer. "This is like a bank stealing your house, then selling it for half its value to a friendly 'competitor' who then resells it in the broader market for its real value and splits the profits with the bank. The rightful owners end up with nothing!"

For Sam and Barbara McBride, their Mirant shares represent almost 100% of their retirement savings and personal savings. "Under the terms of the proposed plan, I lose all my savings and see no possibility of retirement," said Sam McBride. "When Mirant emerges from bankruptcy and the shares trade at a decent level again, it is only right that the current shareholders own a portion of the shares so that those of us who believed in the company are not the ones who lose the most."

The company's proposed reorganization plan has drawn objections from shareholders, bondholders, creditors and regulators, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which said in its objection to the plan that Mirant improperly provided releases to present and former executives and directors "to the detriment of public investors."

"It seems outrageous to me that the management team that took what had been described as a 'healthy company' into bankruptcy is still in power and poised to reap a windfall by designing a bankruptcy sleight of hand," said Paul Syiek, a spokesperson for the Shareholders' Rights Group.

Mirant, an Atlanta-based power company, filed the 11th-largest bankruptcy of all time on July 14, 2003. With assets almost double the liabilities at the time of Mirant's surprising and controversial bankruptcy filing, stakeholders were almost assured recovery. Inexplicably, the proposed plan makes only long-term bondholders whole, offers varying amounts of stock to other bondholders and creditors, but gives nothing to Mirant's stockholders.

For more information, please contact David Bear (317.997.9300) or Elisabeth Rutledge (214.697.9414).