United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE: URI) today issued the following statement regarding the decision by Delaware Court of Chancery Chancellor William B. Chandler III to proceed with a trial in the litigation that United Rentals initiated on November 19, 2007 against RAM Holdings, Inc. and RAM Acquisition Corp. The lawsuit seeks to compel the RAM entities (which are acquisition vehicles formed by Stephen Feinberg’s Cerberus Capital Management, L.P.) to complete their purchase of United Rentals.
In a letter sent to counsel this afternoon, Chancellor Chandler wrote, “I have concluded that while the question is exceedingly close, summary judgment is not an effective vehicle for deciding the contract issues in dispute in this case.”
United Rentals said: "We look forward to making a compelling case at the upcoming trial. While we believed the case could be decided through summary judgment, we respect Chancellor Chandler's decision to give a matter of this magnitude a full trial before issuing his ruling. The trial presents an important opportunity to establish that the merger agreement should be enforced as written."
United Rentals added that it has fulfilled all of its obligations under the merger agreement with the RAM entities and stands ready to complete the merger transaction on the agreed-upon terms.
About United Rentals
United Rentals, Inc. is the largest equipment rental company in the world based on revenue, with an integrated network of over 690 rental locations in 48 states, 10 Canadian provinces and one location in Mexico. The Company’s approximately 11,500 employees serve construction and industrial customers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners and others. The Company offers for rent over 20,000 classes of rental equipment with a total original cost of $4.3 billion. The Company is a member of the Standard & Poor’s MidCap 400 Index and the Russell 2000 Index ® and is headquartered in Greenwich, Conn. Additional information about the Company is available at www.unitedrentals.com.
Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements can generally be identified by words such as “believes,” “expects,” “plans,” “intends,” “projects,” “forecasts,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “on track” or “anticipates,” or the negative thereof or comparable terminology, or by discussions of vision, strategy or outlook. Our businesses and operations are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, and, consequently, actual results may differ materially from those expected by any forward-looking statements. For a description of factors that could cause actual results to differ from those expected, please refer to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006, as well as to our subsequent filings with the SEC. Our forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date hereof, and we make no commitment to update or publicly release any revisions to forward-looking statements in order to reflect new information or subsequent events, circumstances or changes in expectations.