FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., April 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AutoNation, Inc.
(NYSE: AN), America's largest automotive retailer, announced today that it has
received commitments from lenders for a term loan of $600 million. Proceeds
from this term loan will be used to provide a portion of the funding required
in connection with AutoNation's equity tender offer and debt tender offer and
consent solicitation that were commenced on March 10, 2006.
The $600 million in term loan commitments exceeded AutoNation's original
expectations. Accordingly, AutoNation anticipates that its previously
announced offering of senior unsecured notes will be reduced to an aggregate
principal amount of $600 million. AutoNation expects to finance the equity
tender offer and debt tender offer and consent solicitation with the proceeds
of the $600 million term loan, the net proceeds from the offering of the $600
million principal amount of senior unsecured notes, revolving credit facility
borrowings of approximately $125 million and approximately $200 million of
existing cash on hand. An updated presentation of the estimated sources and
uses of funds for the foregoing transactions will be set forth on a Current
Report on Form 8-K that will be filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission today. As previously announced, subject to certain conditions, the
tender offers are scheduled to expire at 10:00 a.m., New York City time, on
April 12, 2006 (unless extended by the Company) and the financing transactions
are expected to be consummated concurrently with the expiration of the tender
offers.
The information agent for the tender offers and consent solicitation is
Innisfree M&A Incorporated. Requests for documents relating to the tender
offers and the consent solicitation may be directed to Innisfree M&A
Incorporated, toll-free at (877) 825-8631 (banks and brokers may call collect
at (212) 750-5833).
The dealer managers for the equity tender offer are J.P. Morgan Securities
Inc. ((877) 371-5947), and Banc of America Securities LLC ((888) 583-8900,
ext. 8537). The dealer managers for the debt tender offer and consent
solicitation are J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc. ((212) 270-7407, call collect)
and Wachovia Securities ((704) 715-8341, call collect).
About AutoNation, Inc.
AutoNation, Inc., headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is America's
largest automotive retailer and a component of the Standard and Poor's 500
Index. AutoNation has approximately 27,000 full-time employees and owns and
operates 345 new vehicle franchises in 17 states.
This press release is for informational purposes only and does not
constitute an offer to buy or the solicitation of an offer to sell shares of
AutoNation, Inc. common stock. The common stock tender offer is being made
only pursuant to the offer to purchase, letter of transmittal and related
materials that AutoNation distributed to its stockholders and filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission on March 10, 2006. Stockholders and
investors should read carefully the offer to purchase, letter of transmittal
and related materials because they contain important information, including
the various terms of, and conditions to, the offer. Stockholders and
investors may obtain a free copy of the tender offer statement on Schedule TO,
the offer to purchase, letter of transmittal and other documents that the
Company has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission at the
Commission's website at http://www.sec.gov or by calling Innisfree M&A
Incorporated, the information agent for the common stock tender offer, toll-
free at (877) 825-8631. Stockholders are urged to read these materials prior
to making any decision with respect to the common stock tender offer.
In addition, this press release does not constitute an offer to buy or the
solicitation of an offer to sell AutoNation's 9% senior notes due 2008. The
debt tender offer and the consent solicitation are being made only pursuant to
the offer to purchase and consent solicitation statement, letter of
transmittal and consent and related materials that AutoNation previously
distributed to noteholders. Noteholders and investors should read carefully
the offer to purchase and consent solicitation statement, letter of
transmittal and consent and related materials because they contain important
information, including the various terms of and conditions to, the offer and
the consent solicitation.
The senior unsecured notes, which are expected to be comprised of a series
of floating rate notes and a series of fixed rate notes, will be offered
solely by means of a confidential offering memorandum in a private placement
to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities
Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and to persons outside the
United States under Regulation S of the Securities Act. The senior unsecured
notes to be offered have not been registered under the Securities Act or
securities laws of any state and may not be offered or sold in the United
States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration
requirements under the Securities Act or the laws of any state. This press
release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to
buy such senior unsecured notes.
Certain statements and information included in this press release
constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Federal
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking
statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of AutoNation
to be materially different from any future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements.
Additional discussion of factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from management's projections, estimates and expectations is
contained in AutoNation's SEC filings. AutoNation undertakes no duty to update
its forward-looking statements. Notwithstanding any statement in this press
release to the contrary, the safe harbor protections of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995 do not apply to statements made in connection
with a tender offer.
SOURCE AutoNation, Inc.
-0- 04/03/2006
/CONTACT: Marc Cannon of AutoNation, Inc., +1-954-769-3146,
[email protected] /
/Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001017/AUTONATIONLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, [email protected]/
/Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/750525.html /
/Web site: http://corp.autonation.com /
(AN)
CO: AutoNation, Inc.
ST: Florida
IN: AUT REA
SU: FNC
WR
-- NYM187 --
2162 04/03/2006 08:47 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com