Owl Creek supports Harbinger's slate of nominees for election to Ryerson's board

By Lisa Kerner

Charlotte, N.C., June 29 - Ryerson, Inc. shareholders led by Owl Creek II, LP expressed their lack of confidence in the company's current management and its ability to improve Ryerson's operating results. As a result, Owl Creek stated its support for Harbinger Capital Partners' slate of seven independent nominees to Ryerson's board.

Owl Creek cited the nominees' "more specific industry experience" and ability to be "more proactive managers" of Ryerson.

Harbinger, with a 9.7% stake in Ryerson, seeks to replace seven members of the company's board at the annual meeting on Aug. 23 with its nominees: Keith E. Butler, Eugene I. Davis, Daniel W. Dienst, Richard Kochersperger, Larry J. Liebovich, Gerald Morris and Allen Ritchie.

Owl Creek and the reporting persons beneficially own 1,053,925 shares, or 4.0%, of the Chicago-based metal processing company's outstanding stock, according to a schedule 13D filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"The reporting persons do not see evidence of a credible plan to support management's goals of improving underperforming service centers, achieving an inventory turn rate of 5x by the end of 2007, and operating more efficiently," Owl Creek's SEC filing stated.

"Moreover, if there are actionable ways for the issuer to achieve these goals, it begs to question why these actions have only been implemented in response to shareholder pressure and have not been implemented sooner since the management team has been in place since 1999," Owl Creek said in the filing.

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