Marathon Oil is now stand-alone entity
  by: OilOnline
  Tuesday, January 08, 2002

It's official - Marathon Oil is now a stand-alone entity, breaking away from former parent USX Corp. Marathon gained its independence Dec. 31 when the USX-Marathon Group board took the final action to separate the companies, as earlier announced.

As an independent energy company, Houston-based Marathon said it would be able to focus on its core oil and gas business; make critical acquisitions and investments needed to grow its business; and provide the company with an appropriate capital structure for its business and independent access to financial markets.

USX stockholders earlier approved the separation and plan of reorganization on Oct. 25. The Internal Revenue Service subsequently issued a private letter ruling confirming that the spin-off of the steel business is tax free to USX and the holders of its common stock.

United States Steel Corp. also was spun off. The company will be headquartered in Pittsburgh.

USA-Marathon Group common stock remains outstanding and is unaffected by the separation. Assets and other liabilities will remain with each individual company. Some $900 million in debt will be transferred to Marathon from U.S. Steel.