Wabash National Corp has announced the mandatory conversion of its Series C 5.5% convertible preferred stock, pursuant to certain provisions of the preferred stock. Under terms of the Lafayette IN-based company's debt agreements, payment of preferred stock dividends is restricted. As a result, Wabash has not made any payments of dividends on the preferred stock since April 2002, including dividends due June 15 and Sept 15, 2002.
Under terms of the preferred stock, nonpayment of two dividends is an event resulting in mandatory conversion of preferred stock into the company's common stock. As of Sept 15, 2002, there were 130,041 shares issued and outstanding of preferred stock, which converted into about 2.6 million shares of Wabash's common stock, effective Sept 15, 2002. The company believes the effect of the conversion to be accretive to results.