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Meridian National Corp. Announces Sale of 4.2 Million Shares

17 September 1999

Meridian National Corp. Announces Sale of 4.2 Million Shares and New Financing Arrangements

    TOLEDO, Ohio--Sept. 16, 1999--Meridian National Corp. (OTC BB:MRCO)(OTC BB:MRCOP) announced the sale on Sept. 1, 1999 of 4.2 million newly-issued shares of common stock for $294,000.
    The shares, which represent 53 percent of the outstanding shares of Meridian National, were purchased by a private investor group composed of entities controlled by certain executive officers of MNP Corp., a privately held corporation located in Utica, Mich. Larry Berman, a controlling member of the investor group, is the chief executive officer, president and majority shareholder of MNP and has also served as a director of Meridian National since 1996. MNP, a manufacturer and supplier of fasteners to the automotive industry, also owns 280,581 shares of Meridian National common stock.
    In conjunction with the purchase of the stock, MNP made a loan in the amount of $1.5 million to the Company, the proceeds of which were used to repay indebtedness owing to the Company's senior lender, the National Bank of Canada. MNP, in its sole discretion, has agreed to make additional loans up to $1.5 million. To date MNP has loaned a total of $2.6 million to the Company.
    The investment by MNP and its executive management group, in conjunction with the renegotiated bank financing, provides the support and resources for Ottawa River Steel Co., the Company's steel service center business, to take advantage of the opportunities which exist in the market place. Ottawa River Steel, with service center facilities in Toledo, Ohio and Detroit, Mich., buys and sells carbon steel coils and provides slitting, cut-to-length and batch pickling services for flat rolled steel products. Ottawa's customers include other steel service centers and industrial manufacturing and stamping companies, primarily in the automotive, appliance and agricultural industries.
    Management is optimistic that the Company is now positioned to support and grow its steel service center business and to maintain its presence in the paint waste recycling business.
    Meridian National processes and distributes steel products and provides commercial paint waste recycling services principally to industrial customers.
    Certain statements in this release may be forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are competitive pressures, availability of product at competitive prices, general economic conditions and the risk factors detailed from time to time in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and other material filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.