May 5, 2006 — WCI Steel Noteholders led by Harbinger Capital Partners Master Fund I, Ltd. consummated a plan of reorganization on May 1 that gave the Noteholders $100,000,000 in new 8% Secured Notes and more than 98% of the equity of the reorganized steel company.

The company’s exit from chapter 11 comes nearly three years after it announced that it would default on $300,000,000 in senior secured notes, and after two and a half years of hotly contested chapter 11 proceedings. The reorganization became possible when the United Steelworkers reached a new collective bargaining agreement with the Noteholders.

Mr. Rennert, who had saved WCI Steel from closing when he bought it out of the first LTV Steel chapter 11 case, fought for more than two years to keep WCI Steel. He lost control of the chapter 11 case in November 2005, when the United Steelworkers reached an agreement in principle with the Noteholders on a new collective bargaining agreement. This was an historic achievement, as the USW had never before negotiated a collective bargaining agreement with creditors over the opposition of management and ownership. The Noteholders' agreement with the USW, which provided security for the USW's hardship benefits, was ratified by the USW's membership on April 27, 2006.

WCI Steel, Inc., a niche-oriented integrated producer of value-added custom steel products, had been owned for 17 years by Renco Group, Inc., the holding company of financier Ira Leon Rennert. Harbinger will be the largest shareholder in the reorganized WCI Steel, and Pat Tatom will continue as Chief Executive Officer.

Noteholders were represented by Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP as lead bankruptcy counsel and CIBC World Markets as financial advisor. McDermott Will & Emery LLP, the Noteholders' labor counsel, negotiated the historic agreement with the USW and will continue as corporate counsel to the reorganized WCI Steel, Inc.