Mirant CEO to receive hefty severance package as she departs bankrupt company

<p>Mirant Corp. chief executive Marce Fuller will receive a hefty severance package, including a $3.4 million lump-sum payout, when she resigns from the bankrupt energy supplier, a regulatory filing released Thursday shows.</p><p>The Securities and Exchange Commission filing says Fuller will receive another $850,000 in short-term incentives. She is also eligible for further compensation from a company pension plan.</p><p>The filing does not specifically say when she will resign. Spokesman Vance Booker said Fuller will stay until a successor is found. No timetable has been set for finding a successor, but the company will consider internal and external candidates, Booker said. A board-led CEO search has been ongoing for the better part of the year to prepare in the event that she left, the company said.</p><p>The filing said Fuller also plans to step down from her seat on the board of directors. Fuller has agreed to work as a consultant to Mirant after she leaves to help the company in its bankruptcy case, the filing said. The company did not say in the filing why Fuller is resigning, only that she and Mirant entered into an agreement regarding her separation from the company.</p><p>The Atlanta-based company filed for bankruptcy in Forth Worth, Texas, on July 14, 2003. It has yet to file a reorganization plan. In August, Mirant said it hopes to emerge from bankruptcy in the first half of next year.</p><p>Fuller, 44, was appointed Mirant's president, chief executive officer and member of the company's board in 1999. Before that, she worked in several other positions at the company since 1992.</p><p>Before joining Mirant, Fuller worked in various positions at Southern Company and General Electric.</p><p>Upset by the status of the bankruptcy case, last month some of Mirant's shareholders asked the bankruptcy court to order the energy supplier to hold a meeting to oust its board of directors. The investors accused the company of pressing a business plan as part of its reorganization that understates projected revenues.</p><p>Mirant has said it is proceeding as fast as it can.</p><p>Thursday's filing says Fuller will receive her severance payment within 30 days of leaving the company.</p><p>She also will receive other benefits, according to the agreement.</p><p>During 2002, a year before Mirant filed for bankruptcy, the company paid $17 million to fund a portion of the pensions of several top executives, including Fuller. At the time, Fuller's annual benefit, based on more than 17 years of credited service, was $423,000 a year, regulatory filings show.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x2864a08)</p>

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