July 20, 2006 — Esmark Inc. released the following statement from its CEO, James P. Bouchard, in response to the press release issued by Wheeling-Pittsburgh Corp. on July 18, 2006:

“We are pleased that the Wheeling-Pittsburgh board has finally responded to Esmark, but are surprised and troubled to see that they have rejected outright a well-capitalized plan that we believe is in the best interests of Wheeling-Pittsburgh and its shareholders. Wheeling-Pittsburgh's management and board have instead indicated that they are pursuing a 'strategic alliance' with a foreign integrated steel producer - stating that they believe it will 'maximize shareholder value' - but they have disclosed little information regarding this potential alliance. Since initially disclosing its strategic alliance on May 5, 2006, Wheeling-Pittsburgh has failed to provide its shareholders, employees or customers information regarding this strategic alliance. How, if it all, will this 'strategic alliance' improve the capital structure, operational performance and long-term viability of this once great American company? We believe that Wheeling-Pittsburgh's shareholders are entitled to know this information.

“Given the track record to date of Wheeling-Pittsburgh, we firmly believe that not all of the management and directors of Wheeling-Pittsburgh have acted in the best interests of its shareholders. We will soon file a preliminary proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission that will include our proposed slate of directors. Assuming a vote to elect our slate of directors, we believe that the new board of directors will fairly evaluate our proposed merger plans and allow the shareholders to vote on the merits and benefits of our proposed merger.”

Esmark says it intends to file a proxy statement and proxy card with the SEC that will be used to solicit votes for the election of its slate of director nominees at Wheeling-Pittsburgh’s 2006 annual shareholders meeting, which has not yet been scheduled. Participants in the proxy solicitation are anticipated to be Esmark Inc., the Bouchard Group LLC, James P. Bouchard, Craig T. Bouchard, Franklin Mutual Advisers, LLC and other director nominees included in the proxy statement to be filed with the SEC.

Headquartered in Chicago and founded by the Bouchard Group, Esmark is a steel services family of companies. The mission of Esmark is to establish the benchmark standards for strategic consolidation, operating efficiency and management excellence in the steel sector.