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United Rentals makes bid
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April 5, 1999: 8:24 a.m. ET
Unsolicited $553M cash offer for Rental Service seeks to derail rival bid
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - United Rentals, the nation's No. 1 equipment rental firm, launched an unsolicited $553 million takeover bid Monday for Rental Service Corp., which agreed in January to a friendly merger with NationsRent Inc., another rental services company.
United Rentals, which rents equipment to industry, homeowners and other consumers, said it started a cash tender offer of $22.75 a share for all of Rental Service's 24.3 million shares, and would assume about $810 million in debt. The offer is 32 percent above the closing stock price Thursday for Rental Service, the No. 3 equipment rental company. The stock market was closed Friday ahead of Easter.
Rental Service on Jan. 21 announced a merger with NationsRent in a deal it said would have created the biggest rental services company in North America. Officials at Rental Service (RSV) and NationsRent (NRI) weren't immediately available for comment.
United Rentals (URI) said it has commitments for up $2 billion in financing for the deal, which would be subject to Rental Service and NationsRent ending their proposed merger, among other conditions.
Rental Service stock jumped 4-3/8 to 21-5/8 while United Rentals was unchanged at 28-3/4. NationsRent fell 3/16 to 6-3/16. 
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Rental Service
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