Mirant Corp .'s bank debt was one of the most volatile names in the market last week with at least a $20 million piece of the company's '04 revolver changing hands in the 68-69 range, where the paper finally settled. The bank debt originally inched up about four points on information regarding Mirant's Philippine operation. It then fell off slightly when that information was found to be outdated, but later recovered some ground. Mirant's '03 bank debt was left higher compared to two weeks ago with market players quoting the name in the 66-67 range.
Last Tuesday, Ed Bautista , the head of Mirant's Philippine operations, commented that the initial public offering of that business would likely raise $325 million. The valuation offered under that scenario was much higher than investors had expected, leading them to apply that new valuation to Mirant's operations and bid the debt upward, explained one dealer.
But those valuation applications were later called into question when Mirant released a statement on Wednesday noting that "those valuations are outdated and the company would not be able to provide new financial data until an in-depth valuation occurs." A Mirant spokesman declined to comment beyond the statement.