Calpine Corp. Message Board

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES Two of Calpine Corp.'s (CPN) biggest shareholders are putting up their combined 39.5% stake in the power generator months after a potential sale of the firm was nixed by the company. Hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners and SPO Advisory Corp. own 24.3% and 15.2%, respectively, in Calpine and are offering their positions in the firm months after Calpine rebuffed a takeover offer favored by Harbinger. Based on Tuesday's closing price, the 166.9 million shares being offered are valued at $2.65 billion. There was no premarket trading. When Calpine emerged from bankruptcy in January, Harbinger and SPO reported they owned 20.6% and 13.6%, respectively, after requesting a 45% combined stake before the company came out of bankruptcy. The two acquired their stakes through the purchase of Calpine debt. No reason was given for the planned sale, disclosed in a filing Calpine made with the Securities and Exchange Commission and none of the parties were immediately available to comment. Calpine Chairman William J. Patterson and another board member are affiliated directly or indirectly with SPO. Harbinger disclosed in May that NRG Energy Inc. (NRG) offered to buy Calpine for $10.8 billion, a deal which would have created the nation's biggest independent power producer. Harbinger met with NRG and called for the takeover but Calpine's board decided the bid was "inadequate." Earlier this week, the power generator reported a second-quarter profit as the average price of electricity rose and it shed the costs of its stint in bankruptcy, from which it emerged in January. The company also named Jack A. Fusco as its new president and chief executive, replacing the retiring Robert P. May, who earlier this year said he would be stepping down. Fusco most recently served as chairman and chief executive of Texas Genco Inc. before it was bought in 2006 by NRG. -By David Benoit, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2472; david.benoit@dowjones.com Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/al?rnd=0%2FrQL3N4W%2FiSVov66NFA3w%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.