AMERCO Receives Loan Commitments from Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley to Refinance its Debt
May 12, 2005 Download
AMERCO (Nasdaq: UHAL) announced today that it has received loan commitments from Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley to refinance its credit facilities.
The structure, pursuant to the loan commitments, will consist of three asset-backed facilities.
- $240 million senior mortgage funded by Merrill Lynch
- $465 million hybrid real estate backed loan funded by Merrill Lynch
- $260 million senior mortgage funded by Morgan Stanley
“Our refinancing strategy has been to reduce our borrowing costs, assure adequate liquidity and provide financial flexibility for the organization,” stated Gary Horton, treasurer of AMERCO. “The new structure will provide the company with the capital necessary for continued investment and sustainable growth. Furthermore, the structure of the new loan facilities will provide increased flexibility for the company to manage its operations and finances. This positions the company to be able to devote all of its energies toward operating the business. The company also anticipates completing additional fundings in the near future,” concluded Horton.
AMERCO will incur a one-time charge of approximately $34 million to pre-tax earnings in the first quarter of fiscal 2006 associated with early payment of the existing loans. The company anticipates annual interest savings of approximately $25 million based on current borrowing levels.
AMERCO is the parent company of Republic Western Insurance Company, Oxford Life Insurance Company, Amerco Real Estate Company and U-Haul, the nation’s leading do-it-yourself moving company with a network of over 14,900 locations in all 50 United States and 10 Canadian Provinces. Celebrating its 60th year of serving customers, the Company has the largest rental fleet in the world, with over 94,000 trucks, 75,000 trailers and 35,000 tow devices. U-Haul has also been a leader in the storage industry since 1974, with over 340,000 rooms and more than 28.8 million square feet of storage space and over 1,000 facilities throughout North America.