Fitch Places United Rentals, Inc (URI) on Rating Watch Negative.CHICAGO -- Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings An international rating agency for financial institutions, insurance companies, and corporate, sovereign, and municipal debt. Fitch Ratings has headquarters in New York and London and is wholly owned by FIMALAC of Paris. has placed the ratings for United Rentals Founded in 1997 by eight entrepreneurs, United Rentals, Inc. is the largest equipment rental company in the world, with more than 700 rental locations throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. , Inc (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :URI Uri, in the Bible Uri (y  `rī), in the Bible.1 Father of Bezaleel (1.) 2 Father of Geber (2.) 3 Porter. ) and United Rentals (North America), Inc. (URNA URNA Utvar Rychleho Nasazeni (Czech republic police squad) ) on Rating Watch Negative. A complete list of ratings follows this release. The Negative Rating Watch reflects URI's April 10, 2007 announcement that the board of directors has begun a process to explore strategic alternatives for the entity, including a potential sale of the company. Fitch recognizes that the company's operating fundamentals have significantly improved over the last two years and believes the decision to explore strategic alternatives reflects an aggressive effort by the company's board to achieve a more favorable market valuation. Although the outcome of this process cannot yet be determined, Fitch's action reflects the belief that URI's overall size and market position may limit the board's option in achieving a higher valuation to a restructuring or sale that negatively alters the current financial profile of the company, including significantly higher leverage, weaker capitalization and liquidity. Any strategic alternative undertaken by URI that negatively alters the company's current financial profile to include a significant increase in leverage or weaker capitalization or less liquidity will likely result in a ratings downgrade. Fitch also recognizes that the Negative Watch may potentially be resolved without any negative ratings action in the event that any strategic initiatives undertaken by URI either do not negatively alter the current financial profile or the company is sold to an equally or stronger rated entity. Fitch has placed the following ratings on Rating Watch Negative: United Rentals, Inc (URI) --Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR IDR In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Indonesian Rupiah. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. ) 'BB-'. United Rentals (North America), Inc. (URNA) --Long Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) 'BB-'; --Senior Secured 'BB'; --Senior Unsecured 'BB-'; --Subordinated Debt 'B'. Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use Terms of Use are rules set up by the owner of an intellectual property or service to govern how they may be legally used. In many cases, terms of service are used as a contractual agreement between a company and users of a service they provide. of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. |
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