Power company Mirant sues NRG over takeover rejection

<p>Power company Mirant Corp. on Wednesday sued rival energy producer NRG Energy Inc., claiming that NRG is unfairly rejecting its nearly $8 billion takeover bid.</p><p>Atlanta-based Mirant sought a court order directing NRG not to obstruct its attempts to acquire NRG. Mirant asserted that NRG is using a "transaction ploy" to turn aside the offer by claiming that Mirant is using confidential information from NRG's former financial adviser.</p><p>Mirant said it has not received any confidential information.</p><p>A spokeswoman for Princeton-based NRG had no immediate comment on the lawsuit, filed in the Chancery Court of Delaware.</p><p>The lawsuit, which does not name the financial adviser, came a day after the takeover bid became public when NRG announced it was rejecting the offer, saying it was not in best interests of its shareholders.</p><p>Mirant said it has received a financing commitment of about $11.5 billion and proposes to buy NRG at about $57.16 a share, a premium of about 33 percent to NRG's share price Tuesday of $43.01.</p><p>Disclosure of the buyout offer boosted NRG shares. They rose $7.03, or 16.4 percent, to $50.04 in afternoon trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. They had been trading from $34.46 to $49.46 over the past year. Mirant shares fell $1.27, or 5 percent, to $23.98, on the New York Stock Exchange. It has traded from $21 to $29 over the past year.</p><p>Mirant produces and sells electricity in the United States, the Caribbean and the Philippines. The company owns or leases more than 17,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity globally, but was weighed down by debt of $5 billion.</p><p>NRG, which recently acquired Texas Genco LLC, generates more than 24,700 megawatts, mostly in Texas and the Northeast, South Central and Western regions of the United States. It also has ownership interests in generating facilities in Australia and Germany.</p><p>The combined company would have over 43,000 megawatts globally, with over 37,500 megawatts in the United States, according to Mirant.</p><p>That would make it among the largest U.S. power producers. The pending acquisition of Newark-based Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. by Chicago-based Exelon Corp. would give that entity a nation-leading capacity of 45,400 megawatts after some 6,600 megawatts were divested.</p><p>A megawatt is enough power to serve between 700 and 1,000 homes for a year.</p><p>Mirant emerged in January from Chapter 11 bankruptcy _ the 11th largest in U.S. history at the time of the filing in July 2003. Mirant reduced its work force and shaved billions in debt from its balance sheet as part of its return to the public markets.</p><p>Mirant said a deal would save the combined companies about $150 million per year because it would cut overlapping functions.</p><p>NRG said it rejected Mirant's approach because the offer undervalues the company, Mirant's stock has been thinly traded for only four months and is a suspect currency and because NRG directors do not believe current market conditions warrant a sale.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x1cdc438)</p><p>HASH(0x1cdc4bc)</p>