425
Filed by RRI Energy, Inc.
Pursuant to Rule 425 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and
deemed filed pursuant to Rule 14a-12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended
RRI Energy, Inc. (File No. 1-16455)
Subject Company: Mirant Corporation (File No: 1-16107)
Below is a transcript of the third quarter 2010 earnings conference of RRI Energy, Inc. which was
held on November 3, 2010 at 9:00 a.m., Central Time.
Forward-Looking Statements
This communication contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of
the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended. Forward-looking statements are statements that contain projections, estimates or
assumptions about our revenues, income, capital structure and other financial items, our plans and
objectives for future operations or about our future economic performance, possible transactions,
dispositions, financings or offerings, and our view of economic and market conditions. In many
cases you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as anticipate, estimate,
think, believe, continue, could, intend, may, plan, potential, predict, should,
will, expect, objective, projection, forecast, goal, guidance, outlook, effort,
target and other similar words. However, the absence of these words does not mean that the
statements are not forward-looking.
Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking
statements as a result of many factors or events, including, but not limited to, statements about
the benefits of the proposed merger involving us and Mirant Corporation, including our future
financial position and operating results and the expected timing or ability to obtain necessary
approvals and satisfy conditions to complete the merger and the related financings, legislative,
regulatory and/or market developments, the outcome of pending or threatened lawsuits, regulatory or
tax proceedings or investigations, the effects of competition or regulatory intervention, financial
and economic market conditions, access to capital, the timing and extent of changes in law and
regulation (including environmental), commodity prices, prevailing demand and market prices for
electricity, capacity, fuel and emission allowances, weather conditions, operational constraints or
outages, fuel supply or transmission issues, hedging ineffectiveness and other factors we discuss
or refer to in the Risk Factors sections of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and
Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Our
filings and other important information are also available on the Investor Relations page of our
website at www.rrienergy.com.
Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of the particular statement and we
undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of
new information, future events or otherwise.
Additional Information And Where To Find It
This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy
any securities nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer,
solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities
laws of any such jurisdiction. In connection with the proposed merger between us and Mirant
Corporation, we filed with the SEC a registration statement on Form S-4 that includes a joint proxy
statement of us and Mirant and that also constitutes a prospectus of us. The registration statement
was declared effective by the SEC on September 13, 2010. We urge investors and shareholders to read
the registration statement, and any other relevant documents filed with the SEC, including the
joint proxy statement/prospectus that is a part of the registration statement, because they contain
important information. You may obtain copies of all documents filed with the SEC regarding this
transaction, free of charge, at the SECs website (www.sec.gov). You may also obtain these
documents, free of charge, from our website
(www.rrienergy.com) under the tab Investor Relations and then under the heading Company
Filings, and from Mirants website (www.mirant.com) under the tab Investor Relations and then
under the heading SEC Filings.
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Final Transcript
Nov 03, 2010 / 02:00PM GMT, RRI Q3 2010 RRI Energy, Inc. Earnings Conference Call
Final Transcript
Conference Call Transcript
RRI Q3 2010 RRI Energy, Inc. Earnings Conference Call
Event Date/Time: Nov 03, 2010 / 02:00PM GMT
CORPORATE PARTICIPANTS
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Final Transcript
Nov 03, 2010 / 02:00PM GMT, RRI Q3 2010 RRI Energy, Inc. Earnings Conference Call
Dennis Barber
RRI Energy, Inc. VP
Mark Jacobs
RRI Energy, Inc. President
Rick Dobson
RRI Energy, Inc. CFO
CONFERENCE CALL PARTICIPANTS
Brian Chin
Citigroup Analyst
Neel Mitra
Simmons & Company Analyst
Lasan Johong
RBC Capital Markets Analyst
Brandon Blossman
Tudor Pickering Analyst
Ameet Thakkar
BofA Merrill Lynch Analyst
Machael Lapides
Goldman Sachs Analyst
Gregg Orrill
Barclays Capital Analyst
Sakka Batmisrah
JPMorgan Analyst
Nitin Dahiya
KLS Diversified Analyst
PRESENTATION
Operator
Welcome to the RRI Energy, third quarter 2010 earnings conference call. My name is Christine
and I will be your operator for todays conference. At this time all participants are in a listen
only mode. Later we will conduct a question and answer session. Please note that this conference is
being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Dennis Barber Vice President of Investor
Relations. Mr. Barber, you may begin.
Dennis Barber - RRI Energy, Inc. VP
Good morning and welcome to RRI Energys third quarter conference call. Leading the call this
morning are Mark Jacobs, President and CEO, and Rick Dobson our Chief Financial Officer. Following
our prepared remarks, well have a question-and-answer session.
The earnings release, as well as the slide presentation were using today is available on our
website at www.rrienergy.com in the Investor Relations section. A replay of this call will also be
available on the website approximately two hours after the call. Consistent with our past practice,
were using several non-GAAP measures to provide additional insight into the operating results.
Reconciliations of the non-GAAP measures to GAAP figures are available on the website. As we
previously indicated, were not updating the 2010 or 2011 outlook in light of our pending merger
with Mirant, and do not expect to do so until after the transaction has closed. I would remind you
that the principal near term drivers of our open and adjusted EBITDA are commodity prices. Weve
provided some commodity priced sensitivities that allow you to generally understand the impact
commodity price changes would have on an outlook.
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Nov 03, 2010 / 02:00PM GMT, RRI Q3 2010 RRI Energy, Inc. Earnings Conference Call
Turning to slide two of the presentation. All projections or forward-looking statements we make
today, including about the proposed merger with Mirant, are based on our current expectations and
involve risks, assumptions, and uncertainties. These statements are subject to the Safe Harbors
contained in this slide. Actual results may differ materially from our projections or
forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including those described in this slide and
in our SEC filings. The Safe Harbors in slide three describe how you may obtain copies of our
SEC-filed materials related to the proposed merger. We urge you to read all these Safe Harbors and
the reference materials. Ill now turn it over to Mark.
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Thank you, Dennis, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to our third quarter earnings call.
This morning, we released our Q3 2010 results, which are summarized on slide five. We reported open
and adjusted EBITDA of $212 million. For the first nine months of the year, open EBITDA was $241
million, and adjusted EBITDA was $244 million. 2010, year-to-date free cash flow is $84 million.
Each of these figures was up significantly versus 2009.
Rick will take you through the results in more detail, but the headlines are that Q3 results were
bolstered by significantly warmer than normal weather in the eastern US, and market conditions have
improved in 2010, but still reflect a challenging commodity price and economic environment. On
slide six, Ill provide you an update on the pending merger with Mirant. The key take away is that
weve made significant progress since our last earnings call, and were on track to close the
merger by the end of the year. Last week, shareholders at both RRI and Mirant overwhelmingly
approved the merger. My take is that our shareholders see as we do that this transaction creates
significant value. In September, we raised funded debt and arranged for a new revolving credit
facility, which will satisfy the financing condition in the merger agreement.
GenOn will have a strong balance sheet, an attractive debt maturity profile, and adequate
liquidity. The transaction has cleared by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the New York
state Public Service Commission. Theres one remaining item to be completed before we close the
merger, and thats federal antitrust clearance. Were working closely with the Department of
Justice in its review of the transaction, and were not aware of any material issues. Once we
receive antitrust clearance, well be prepared to close the merger promptly. Ive been very pleased
with the integration efforts to date. Our respective teams are working very well together, and
theyve made excellent progress. Im confident that GenOn is ready for day one operations.
Before turning the call over to Rick, I want to touch on the external landscape on slide seven.
Market fundamentals have improved but continue to be challenging. On a year-over-year basis,
Eastern US power demand was up over 9% in Q3 versus last year. Weather played a large role in this
increase. Higher demand translated into improved market prices. Average on peak power prices at PJM
West Hub for Q3 were up over $24 per megawatt hour versus last year. Improved heat rates were a
significant contributor of better power prices in Q3, with average on peak heat rates increasing
from 11.8 in 2009 to 13.8 in 2010.
I think its noteworthy that an increase in demand, in this case due to weather, led to a
significant increase in heat rates. To me, it demonstrates the leverage to a recovery and supply
demand fundamentals. Its also worth looking at power demand on a weather adjusted basis. Its
grown over the past year, mirroring the increase in economic activity. In our regions, weve seen a
6% bounce back in MISO and about 2.5% in Western PJM.
Turning to forward curves. Gas-coal spreads continue to soften, having declined from the beginning
of the year, driven by weaker natural gas prices and coal prices that have remained essentially
flat over the last two quarters after a modest increase in Q1. However, heat rate improvement in
forward prices has been sufficient to offset the decline in the gas coal spread and maintain
forward dark spreads at about the same level as they were early in the year. Over the last several
years, Ive discussed my belief that well see increasingly stringent environmental regulations
over time. The EPA has several proceedings underway that will impact the economics of operating
coal plants. Its an understandable area focus for the investment community.
I dont have a crystal ball on how and when new environmental rules and regulations will take
shape, but history shows that it will take longer than most expect, and draft rules will undergo
significant modification before becoming final rules, and certainly reliability concerns will have
to be addressed. Without getting into the specifics of each potential new rule, Ill share with you
some of my observations on the impact that tougher rules and regulations would have on the
industry. Some suggest that potential new regulations will create challenges for coal generators
such as RRIs. To be clear, more stringent more environmental regulations will likely force the
retirement of many older coal units, while others will be retrofitted with emission controls.
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Nov 03, 2010 / 02:00PM GMT, RRI Q3 2010 RRI Energy, Inc. Earnings Conference Call
But in my view, its more relevant to consider the long term impacts that potential environmental
rules would have on industry fundamentals. As an industry, were adding very little new capacity.
Current reserve margins provide a cushion for future demand growth, especially in a scenario where
an economic recovery occurs more quickly. However, significant coal plant retirements will likely
lead to lower reserve margins, and significantly tighter supply demand conditions overtime, in
effect accelerating the effects of an economic recovery. Additional rules and regulations will
increase the price of electricity, especially in those hours where coal is on the margin. More
electric generation will come from gas fired plants, as they replace retired coal units. That in
turn will create more demand for natural gas and reduce demand for coal. A benefit for gas coal
spreads.
Taken together, these factors point to higher energy and capacity prices for all forms of
generation assets that remain in the stack, especially scrub coal plants. Now let me bring this
back to the RRI fleet. When we see tighter environmental regulations, well likely retire some of
our units. Keep in mind that many of these are marginal units, and in todays market environment
are close to break even on a cash on cash basis.
Were also likely to invest capital to add environmental controls at some units, but only in cases
where we have a high confidence level that well earn an attractive rate of return on that
additional investment. Most importantly, well likely see a significant improvement in the
profitability of the overall fleet because of the factors I mentioned. Improved supply/demand
fundamentals, higher power prices, and an improved gas coal spread. Ill now turn the call over to
Rick Dobson.
Rick Dobson RRI Energy, Inc. CFO
Thank you Mark. Ill turn to slide nine and talk about the key takeaways for the third
quarter. Our open EBITDA was $212 million in the third quarter of 2010, a $79 million improvement
over 2009. The improvement was primarily driven by increases in energy gross margins as a result of
much warmer weather in July and the first half of August, as well as better economic conditions.
Our 2010 adjusted EBITDA was the same as our opening EBITDA, as the aggregate of our hedges and
other items had little impact on the third quarter. The differences in coal procurement prices
between 2010 and 2009 accounts for the vast majority of the $33 million positive variance in hedges
related to 2009.
Moving on to free cash flow. As many of you know, our third quarter generally drives the majority
of our cash flow, given that it includes the heavier loads summer cooling season. We are also past
the material [outage] spending and interest payments. All of that considered, we generated $84
million of cash so far this year, compared to use of $182 million for the same time last year. The
primary drivers are strong third quarter results and lower environmental spending on the Cheswick
and Keystone scrubbers. Before I move on to the next slide, I want to touch on something you will
see when you review our third quarter GAAP financial statements. As you may recall from our first
quarter discussion related to FASB statement 144, now known as ASC360, were required to evaluate
our long lived assets for impairment as market conditions materially change. Since we had
significant gas coal spread contraction in the third quarter of this year, we performed that
review. The review resulted in impairments totaling $113 million at our Titus and New Castle
plants.
Ill turn to slide 10 where we illustrate our effectiveness and efficiency metrics for the year so
far. Over all, TMCF is about 2.5% lower than 2009. As I talked about last quarter, we have taken
steps to improve the performance we saw in the first half of this year, and while we have not yet
completely closed the gap, we are seeing benefits from our actions, our unplanned outage rate in
the third quarter was 3% lower than we experienced in the first quarter. Moving to our efficiency
measures, both our costs per megawatt hour and per megawatt have improved over 2009. Our cost per
megawatt of capacity was modestly lower due to reductions in G&A and other indirect costs. These
reductions more than offset increases in outage spending and in enhancing unit performance. Our
cost in megawatt hour was lower due to the cost reductions I just mentioned, as well as increased
generation volumes.
Lets now review slide 11. As you will recall, we implemented a hedging program for 2010 and 2011,
designed to deliver free cash flow break even or better as a means of protecting our existing cash
position. Last month we finished pricing our primary coal needs for 2011. Excluding Seward, our
average 2011 coal cost is just under $64 per ton before deliver costs. Additionally, we added more
power hedges for 2011, bringing our total power hedges to 8.2 terawatt hours or 49%, and an average
price of $47 per megawatt hour. No other material changes have been made to our hedge generation
profile.
Lets turn to slide 12. The merger financing that Mark referenced in his earlier remarks provides
for the discharge of certain RRI in Mirant secured and unsecured debt, as well as the defeasance of
the PEDFA bonds. This debt maturity profile provides GenOn with adequate resources for the 2011
debt maturity and a very sound liquidity position going forward. GenOns capital structure gives it
a solid platform needed to create shareholder value. With that, let me turn it back to Mark to wrap
up.
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Final Transcript
Nov 03, 2010 / 02:00PM GMT, RRI Q3 2010 RRI Energy, Inc. Earnings Conference Call
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Thanks Rick. Let me conclude my comments on slide 13. I expect this to be the last earnings
call well host as RRI. Going forward, well be discussing GenOns results. I want to acknowledge
my RRI co-workers and thank them for their extraordinary efforts and contributions. Its a
privilege working with them, and I look forward to working with the GenOn team prospectively. The
merger with Mirant represents a major step forward for RRI, a step that creates near term value
through corporate support and G&A cost savings. In the intermediate and longer term, GenOn will
have an improved position with greater scale and efficiency and a strong balance sheet.
Importantly, the merger also preserves the fundamental value proposition of a recovery in commodity
prices in supply/demand fundamentals. With that, operator lets open the line for questions.
QUESTION AND ANSWER
Operator
(Operator Instructions) The first question comes from Brian Chin from Citigroup. Please go
ahead.
Brian Chin Citigroup Analyst
Hello and good morning.
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Good morning Brian.
Brian Chin Citigroup Analyst
Can you talk a little bit more about the increase in coal hedges for 2011, the addition of 50%
is quite a big jump. Does that signal a particular point of view? How does it relate to the efforts
to integrate the Mirant hedging strategy versus your hedging strategy? Just a little bit of extra
color there would be helpful.
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Sure Brian. The additional procurement of coal is really consistent with the strategy that we
have been employing here in coal procurement. I think as we have talked about on prior calls,
generally in October is when we price a significant portion of the coal for the following year. And
so thats what we did this year, and as I said consistent with what weve done for the last couple
of years.
Brian Chin Citigroup Analyst
Okay. Great. And then, also, could we take a stab at just how much EBITDA impact the hotter
than normal weather gave to you in the third quarter?
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Yes, thats a difficult calculation to get at. What I mentioned in the prepared comments is
the overall demand for power in the eastern US was up about 9% on an actual basis. On a weather
adjusted basis, thats probably closer to 2%. So theres a significant portion of that demand,
again, that we would attribute to being weather related. And then we saw heat rates, on peak heat
rates versus last year, up by about two points, so clearly a meaningful portion of that two point
increase had to do with weather-related demand.
Brian Chin Citigroup Analyst
Okay. Great. Thank you.
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Nov 03, 2010 / 02:00PM GMT, RRI Q3 2010 RRI Energy, Inc. Earnings Conference Call
Operator
The next question comes from Neel Mitra from Simmons & Company. Please go ahead. Hello, good
morning.
Neel Mitra Simmons & Company Analyst
I had a question on uncleared capacity for the PJM capacity auction on page 18. It seems like
the amount that was uncleared went from 822 megawatts in 2012 to 455 in 2013. I was wondering if
you could maybe comment on which plants cleared in the 2013 auction that didnt in 2012 and maybe
some of the drivers for that.
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Yes, Neel, as you know, the bidding strategy that we employ into the RPM auction, we really
view that as proprietary confidential to the company, so we try to provide you details in terms of
how many megawatts have cleared and how many have not cleared, but as it relates to specific
plants, I dont think its appropriate for us to get into that.
Neel Mitra Simmons & Company Analyst
And was it mainly in west of pool?
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Ill share with you they were all RTO assets.
Neel Mitra Simmons & Company Analyst
And then Mark, you talked about some of the maybe tier two and tier three assets possibly
installing some environmental controls if the economics were right. Could you possibly share which
assets in those groupings, which you possibly invest in at this point? And maybe, also, roughly,
what percentage of EBITDA comes from the tier two and tier three plants?
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Sure. Neel, I guess I would make a couple of comments. One, these are really we approach
these as purely economic decisions, and the bottom line is that were going to invest in projects
when we have a high confidence level that those projects will return the invested capital rate that
exceeds our hurdle rate. Now, the challenge in answering that question now is we dont have clarity
on what the environmental rules and regulations are, so its really impossible to do that
calculation.
So I would point you back to some of the disclosures weve had in our 10-K that lay out the range
of environmental expenditures in projects that we would expect to evaluate over time, and what we
ultimately end up moving forward on, my guess, will be a subset of some of those things that weve
laid out. But, again, it really is going to depend on specifically what those rules and regulations
are, because that, at the end of the day, is going to determine the economics in terms of what the
returns to us.
Weve also, just in terms of the earnings contribution, to address that part, we did in our
investor conference last summer provide some information on the relative earnings contribution from
those tiers, obviously as commodity prices move around, those contributions are going to move
around, but I think just in light of the fact that were not providing an updated outlook here, it
really wouldnt be appropriate to comment further than that.
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Nov 03, 2010 / 02:00PM GMT, RRI Q3 2010 RRI Energy, Inc. Earnings Conference Call
Neel Mitra Simmons & Company Analyst
Thank you.
Operator
The next question comes from Lasan Johong from RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Lasan Johong RBC Capital Markets Analyst
Thank you. All things considered, Mark, following on the question that was previously asked,
the net effect is that if youre right about your view going forward, then two things strike me as
being very odd. One, why are you increasing your level of hedges as opposed to decreasing your
level of hedges? And, two, if prices do indeed go up as much as you would expect, and I agree, then
doesnt that mean that pretty much all of your tier two plants should get environmental
expenditures, and then a large chunk of your tier three would also get some investments?
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Let me address the hedging question. Really, what weve done here in this quarter, the
additional actions, is entirely consistent with the approach that we have talked about for the last
couple of years here, and that is to do some level of hedging that provides us a high confidence
level that will be free cash flow, break even, or better in 2010 and 2011, irrespective of market
conditions. And so the incremental hedging that we did in the third quarter here is consistent with
the fact that we have now priced significant additional portion of our coal procurement.
And so that has when we run our stress scenarios, now that we have fixed a portion of the fuel
input largely, that had increased had we not done any additional power hedges, we would have had
additional earnings or cash flow risk in a stress scenario, so those incremental hedges that we put
on are really designed to continue to make sure that we are consistent with our stated objective of
being free cash flow or break even.
Rick Dobson RRI Energy, Inc. CFO
And Mark, when you talk about expanding power prices, youre really talking about beyond 2011,
too. Right, this is just 2011 added hedges.
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Right. And thats the other point, again to just follow on to the second part of your question
of longer term investment proposition on environmental controls. Again, I think its difficult to
address those as a hypothetical, because we need to understand what those rules and regulations are
going to be, but clearly one of the things that is also going to go into that calculation of does
that environmental control make sense is our longer term fundamental view of what supply/demand
conditions are likely to be, and, as I said, we shared with you the view here that if and when we
see tighter environmental rules and regulations, we think thats going to be a net positive for
industry fundamentals.
Lasan Johong RBC Capital Markets Analyst
Yes, but Im having a little problem understanding why you would have a mismatch in your coal
hedging versus youre energy hedging if you really believe that outstanding power prices come
beyond 2011 and not in 2011, because by this definition, youre saying that youre more concerned
about coal prices rising than you are about power prices dropping and thats why you have this
mismatch in hedging. How is that consistent?
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
I wouldnt describe whats on that as a mismatch. Again, the way the coal market operates is
generally that is a contract in advance for market, in so there are not volumes available to buy
coal on a spot base, and as we have described in previous coals, the contracting weve done here in
the third quarter is consistent with how we have typically gone about that. The hedges we put on,
again, we really arent expressing a point of view on the fact that we think prices are going to go
up or prices are going to go down, its really in keeping with the hedging philosophy of insuring
that we have enough hedges that when we run the range of commodity price scenarios that we look at,
that we assure that in all instances were going to be free cash flow positive or better.
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Nov 03, 2010 / 02:00PM GMT, RRI Q3 2010 RRI Energy, Inc. Earnings Conference Call
Lasan Johong RBC Capital Markets Analyst
Okay. Rick, could you summarize your hedging prices one more time? You blew by it pretty
quickly. I didnt catch all of it.
Rick Dobson RRI Energy, Inc. CFO
Yes, I can.
Lasan Johong RBC Capital Markets Analyst
Thank you.
Rick Dobson RRI Energy, Inc. CFO
If you recall, and you may not have this in your notes, I went through the kind of the gory
details, 10 and 11, a quarter or two ago. Let me say this, and if you cant find that, I think
Dennis and Mark can help you with that offline. But what we did incrementally this time was we
added at AEP Dayton Help Point. We added on peak 300 megawatts at $40.75, and we added off peak 200
megawatts at $30.08. And thats what that 13% is.
Lasan Johong RBC Capital Markets Analyst
Okay. Excellent. Thank you much.
Operator
Your next question comes from Brandon Blossman from Tudor Pickering. Please go ahead.
Brandon Blossman Tudor Pickering Analyst
Good morning, guys.
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Good morning, Brandon.
Brandon Blossman Tudor Pickering Analyst
I guess let me start with an easy one. From page looks like 19 no, Im sorry, page 18,
looks like you put on a less capacity hedge or sale on 11, about 550 megawatts. I guess one, is
that the case? And two, is the math as easy as doing the delta between last quarter and this
quarter for 11 capacity payments?
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Brandon, there was some modest incremental volume there, and, again, I dont have the last
quarters right in front of me right now, but you could look at that and compare the change here,
and that would be the incremental activity we did in the quarter.
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Nov 03, 2010 / 02:00PM GMT, RRI Q3 2010 RRI Energy, Inc. Earnings Conference Call
Brandon Blossman Tudor Pickering Analyst
Okay. Fair enough, Ill probably circle back for more details around that. And then probably
not a fair question, but I will go ahead and ask it. GenOn, when that closes, will be well
capitalized very clean balance sheet, nice cash balance. Maybe a comment specific to GenOn or
just in general about the M&A landscape and how you feel directionally towards coal versus gas, as
we are at the bottom of the cycle looking forward.
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Well, I would absolutely agree with your comments that I think post closing the merger that
GenOn is going to be well positioned with manageable debt levels and adequate liquidity and an
attractive debt maturity profile. Going forward, I think one of the things I will share with you is
that Mirant and RRI have approached M&A I believe, very consistently, which its around a value
opportunity, and where we see value here, and obviously our first priority right is now to get the
merger with Mirant closed and get the integration done and get that value delivered to
shareholders, but clearly I would expect GenOn will be looking for opportunities on the M&A front,
but, again, its really going to be driven by where we see transactions that will create value for
our shareholders.
Brandon Blossman Tudor Pickering Analyst
And any comment on coal versus gas?
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Well again, I think that all gets to a relative valuation, Brandon, as where we see the most
value.
Brandon Blossman Tudor Pickering Analyst
All right. Fair enough. Thank you, guys.
Operator
In the next question comes from Ameet Thakkar from Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Ameet Thakkar BofA Merrill Lynch Analyst
Hello guys.
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Morning Ameet.
Ameet Thakkar BofA Merrill Lynch Analyst
I think most of my questions have kind of been asked and answered, but Mark, real quick when
you guys look out to the 2012 dark spreads, when you factor in coal transportation where it is
today, and variable O&M, it looks even without the environmental aspect thats much longer term
impact, it looks like thats not even sustainable here. Is it that a fair way of looking at it? You
guys are obviously very open in 12, but can you talk about what your fundamental views are on 12
dark spreads?
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Well, again, Ive really tried not to express a fundamental point of view on commodities; Id
say that things that make up the dark spread, each are individual commodities, they are going to be
driven by the forces that drive those, but in my experience commodities go up and down.
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Nov 03, 2010 / 02:00PM GMT, RRI Q3 2010 RRI Energy, Inc. Earnings Conference Call
We can all look at a forward curve, but Ill tell you the forward curve is wrong, we just dont
know by what direction and by how much. So, it certainly is an indicator that we look at I would
share your observation when you look out into the future, weve seen a significant compression in
dark spreads going forward, and thats the market incorporating the information it has today into
that price deck, but thats going to change as we go forward. Again, I dont know whether thats
going to go up or down, but it will be different.
Ameet Thakkar BofA Merrill Lynch Analyst
And then on the coal hedges that you added for 2011, its going to be a mixture of both CAP
and NAP coals, correct?
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Thats correct.
Ameet Thakkar BofA Merrill Lynch Analyst
And then relative to for the CAP coal that you have contracted relative to what we see in
NYMEX, would it be, I guess fair to characterize where you were able to achieve the pricing as kind
of at market or below market?
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
No, look, I think the market is what the market is. We believe that we have contracted a fair
price for that coal.
Ameet Thakkar BofA Merrill Lynch Analyst
All right. Thank you, Mark.
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Yes.
Operator
Your next question comes from Michael Lapides from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Machael Lapides Goldman Sachs Analyst
Hello Mark, Rick, real quick question. Just starting to make progress on cost efficiency over
the last six to nine months, two to three quarters. Just curious, should we think of that as being
incremental to the $150 million cost savings post-merger?
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Well, Michael, I would think about it this way. Were always going to look for ways to be more
efficient with the dollars we spend. I think right now in the context of the merger, we believe and
we have a high confidence level that we can deliver $150 million of cost savings that are coming
from corporate support and G&A functions.
Weve done a lot of work. Weve made all of the people decisions for the new company, and weve
done cost roll-ups by function. So we know exactly where to go to get those savings, and again have
a high confidence level. And I would say, beyond that, were always going to look for ways as a
company to be more efficient, but I wouldnt try to interpret anything from the cost direction that
RRI has had, nor would I from the
Mirant side, and thats really going to be as we put the combined company together something well
be talking to you about as a GenOn leadership team in terms of what to expect on the cost front
going forward.
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Nov 03, 2010 / 02:00PM GMT, RRI Q3 2010 RRI Energy, Inc. Earnings Conference Call
Machael Lapides Goldman Sachs Analyst
Okay. Thank you.
Operator
Your next question comes from Gregg Orrill from Barclays Capital. Please go ahead.
Gregg Orrill Barclays Capital Analyst
Thanks a lot. So I think you touched on this a little bit earlier in the call. After the
closing, I guess youll come back and talk to us about the merged guidance and maybe provide an
update on what youre seeing in synergies?
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Yes, Greg,, I would expect preparing an outlook going forward, its going to be one of our
first priorities once the merger is completed, just to set expectations. I wouldnt look for that
kind of right after the transaction is closed, because theres going to be some work were going to
want to do as a leadership team, but I would think clearly as we get out to reporting our year-end
results, that that would be the type of timetable I would look for an updated outlook, and then I
would expect as we report our results as GenOn every quarter, I would expect that well dedicate
some time to talk about exactly where we are on the realization of synergies.
Gregg Orrill Barclays Capital Analyst
Okay. And then on I think this was clear, but the $47 a megawatt hour that you were talking
about in terms of hedging, that we would take that and then adjust that for basis, or to your
plants?
Rick Dobson RRI Energy, Inc. CFO
Greg, its Rick. Like I said, on an answer to a previous question. Theres a mixture in that
$47, and I covered a lot of the detail in the mixture before, so I wont go over that now, but
theres West Hub in there for like 3.9 terawatt hours, theres AEP Dayton in there for about four
terawatt hours, and thats the mix of on and off peak, so its fairly complicated. But you look at
your notes, youll see the last time we hedged at West and AEP Dayton , we had $63 kind of West Hub
prices and some off peak at $42. And like I said, if you cant find them in your notes, we can find
the public information where I talked about that and get you that detail. The incremental piece was
about $40.75 for the 300 megawatts at AEP Dayton, and then $30.08 for the other 200 megawatts. And
then you put all the power hedges together on the total of 8.2 terawatts, and you get basically a
$47 average. But theres a number of components that equal that, so I dont want you to just jump
in to let me take you some average basis, because its at those two different pricing
Gregg Orrill Barclays Capital Analyst
No, thats very helpful. And then the comment on, Im sorry, slide seven , where you talked
about forward dark spreads being around the same level as the first quarter, that was sort of
that it was sort of spot, or
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
That was really the forward curves that I was referring to at that point, Gregg. So, if you go
out and look at kind of 11, 12, 13, weve seen a compression in natural gas prices, since Q1,
but youve also seen about a 1 point improvement in heat rates, so those are largely offset. Coal
prices are pretty much on top of where they were in the first part of the year.
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Nov 03, 2010 / 02:00PM GMT, RRI Q3 2010 RRI Energy, Inc. Earnings Conference Call
Rick Dobson RRI Energy, Inc. CFO
And Gregg, that reference point that Mark is talking about is referenced off of when we filed
the S4 those merger projections, which was a March 16th date, and now were fast forwarding to
now.
Gregg Orrill Barclays Capital Analyst
The idea being that the margin outlook really
Rick Dobson RRI Energy, Inc. CFO
Hasnt changed since March 16th substantially.
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
And again to be clear, were not providing guidance.
Rick Dobson RRI Energy, Inc. CFO
Yes, not providing guidance, sorry.
Gregg Orrill Barclays Capital Analyst
Of course. Thank you.
Operator
The next comes from [Sakka Batmisrah] JPMorgan. Please go ahead.
Sakka Batmisrah JPMorgan Analyst
Hello, guys, it seems likes you have completed a lot of your integration planning, and are
really just waiting for the DOJ to be able to start realizing some of that value. Is there any
update on the efforts to obtain antitrust approval? Youve had your second request for the last
four months, and theres quite limited substantive issues on the ground, so Im wondering what is
taking so long and why you havent substantially complied with that second to start the 30-day
clock on the DOJ. It just seems like were incurring unnecessary interest and delays, and realizing
that the $150 million over unlaid synergies, thanks.
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Im not going to get into the particulars of the approval process other than to say the
Department of Justice has a job to do in reviewing the transaction, and we are working very closely
with them to assist them in that review. We are not aware of any material issues in that review,
and we would expect to have the transaction closed by the end of the year, which is consistent with
what we have felt from the day that we announced the transaction.
Sakka Batmisrah JPMorgan Analyst
Okay. Thats fine. Thanks.
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Nov 03, 2010 / 02:00PM GMT, RRI Q3 2010 RRI Energy, Inc. Earnings Conference Call
Operator
The next question comes from Nitin Dahiya from KLS Diversified. Please go ahead.
Nitin Dahiya KLS Diversified Analyst
Most of my questions have been answered, but I just wanted to get back to the question around
environmental spending, and around the way you approach it in terms of once we have a set of rules,
do you when you look at your second and third quarter assets, if you like. Is your planning
horizon four or five years, and do you project forward, say, five years, and say this is what we
expect the world to be, and this is this investment is going to be NPV positive, or when you
look at it you are like these are the market conditions today or over the next year and a half,
and then is this transaction going to be NPV positive, so we should go ahead with the turnout?
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Its a good question, and ultimately this is going to be a decision that the GenOn management
team and the GenOn board of directors will make, but my expectation is in analyzing these potential
investments, we will clearly look at market conditions that exist at the time. We will look at
forward curves. Those are, again as I mentioned earlier the markets best estimate.
I would expect well also look at a range of different scenarios around those forward curves, and
all of those will be things that will be taken into consideration in making a decision on whether
to proceed with the investments or not, bit it would be premature for me to say it will be a
five-year look, or however many look, and again that will really be a decision for the GenOn team
going forward to make that decision. But clearly, as I said, I think I would reiterate is that we
would only move forward with these investments in the situation and circumstances where we had a
high confidence level that we would earn a rate of return that exceeded our hurdle rate for the new
capital that were going to put in.
Nitin Dahiya KLS Diversified Analyst
Okay. I think thats helpful. And, again, sorry to beat a dead horse on this antitrust issue.
Is there a bottle neck? There isnt much of a market power issue here I would think. So whats kind
of taking the time?
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Again, Im not going to get into the specifics of that process, again to say the Department of
Justice has a job to do that we respect that job they have to do, and we are working with them. I
would reiterate, were not aware of any issues, and we expect the transaction to be closed by the
end of the year.
Nitin Dahiya KLS Diversified Analyst
All right. Thank you.
Operator
The next question comes from Lasan Johong from RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Lasan Johong RBC Capital Markets Analyst
Thank you. Mark, a couple of follow up questions on the synergy question. You mentioned that
the $150 million is G&A and people, and headquarters and things, but thats not the only thing you
guys can work on. So going forward, once the merger happens, and youre moving forward as one team,
what are some of the other items that youll be working on to create more synergy value, if any?
First of all. Second of all, back to your days as an MD at Goldman Sachs and investment banking,
what percentage of operating and G&A costs were usually taken out once a merger was completed, as a
general rule, in the power/utility space?
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Nov 03, 2010 / 02:00PM GMT, RRI Q3 2010 RRI Energy, Inc. Earnings Conference Call
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Well Lasan, on your first question, one of the principles were using as we put together GenOn
is to identify and take the best operating practice from each of Mirant, RRI, and certainly in the
course of doing that, we are looking for other opportunities. Again, I dont think it makes sense
for us to get out ahead of ourselves on that. What weve shared with the market is a number that we
have a high confidence level that we can deliver on the corporate support and G&A side. And again,
clearly, were going to look for other opportunities, but until we find those and have a high
confidence level we can deliver them, were really not going to be in a position to put any numbers
Lasan Johong RBC Capital Markets Analyst
Im not asking for numbers, Mark, Im just saying what are the items that you could possibly
work on.
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
The items are going to be how we as I said, maintenance practices, O&M spending, plants,
preventive maintenance programs, again all of things commercially. How we dispatch the units.
Really, kind of how everything we do in my mind Lasan is kind of fair game that were going to be
looking at for whats the best way we can operate the GenOn combined fleet.
Lasan Johong RBC Capital Markets Analyst
Procurement?
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Of course.
Lasan Johong RBC Capital Markets Analyst
Okay.
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
On the second question, I wouldnt say that theres a rule of thumb on the operating
synergies. Just to give you some context around the $150 million. If you looked at Mirant and RRI
on a stand alone basis and added them together, we have about $400 million of just over of combined
G&A and corporate support costs. These are costs that are incurred by people outside of the power
plants, and so the $150 million, you can do the math, but represents a pretty significant chunk of
that, but really recognizes that theres a lot of leverage and scalability in those G&A and
corporate functions in terms of if you add one more plant to the fleet, you dont need to add on a
pro rata basis the same level of support.
Lasan Johong RBC Capital Markets Analyst
Yes, Okay. Thank you.
Operator
Gentlemen, at this time, there are no additional questions. Please go ahead with any final
remarks.
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Final Transcript
Nov 03, 2010 / 02:00PM GMT, RRI Q3 2010 RRI Energy, Inc. Earnings Conference Call
Mark Jacobs RRI Energy, Inc. President
Well thank you, Kristine, and thank all of you for participating in our conference call today.
The webcast will replay of the webcast will be available in about two hours. Have a great day.
Operator
Thank you for participating in the RRI Energy third quarter 2010 earnings conference call.
This concludes the conference for today.
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