Cobb Energy shareholders list released

Cobb Energy, the for-profit company that operates Marietta-based Cobb EMC, has released a list of current shareholders, as ordered by a Cobb County Court.

The eight-page list includes 153 preferred shareholders, who earn 55 cents per share per quarter in dividends.

The stock is valued at $25 per share.

The release of the shareholders list comes as part of a customer lawsuit against the electric cooperative and Cobb Energy, filed last fall. The lawsuit alleges that Cobb Energy siphoned off the customer-owned co-op’s assets and enriched insiders.

Cobb Energy operates the non-profit co-op under a 40-year contract that allowed up to an 11 percent markup on its costs. It also operated a range of other businesses. Most of them were unprofitable.

Cobb EMC’s board now wants to buy out the company’s preferred shareholders.

Those stockholders have never missed a dividend until last month.

Dwight Brown, the CEO of both Cobb EMC and Cobb Energy, and his wife are the single largest preferred shareholders.

They own 120,000 shares, bought with an interest free loan from both companies which is gradually being forgiven.

Other large shareholders include Dean Alford, head of Cobb Energy affiliate Allied Utility; Lee McKinstry, former CEO of a utility vendor and Cobb Energy board members; Anis Sherali, head of the Cobb Energy affiliate that buys and sells power and Bob Elsberry, a former vice president with the company.

The list, released Friday, also shows that rank-and-file employees of Cobb Energy — and not just its executives also invested in Cobb Energy stock.

The list does not include shareholders who have already sold their stock back to Cobb Energy. According to court documents, those include the chairman of Cobb EMC’s board, Larry Chadwick, board member Frank Boone and former board member Carl Hames.