EDMONTON, Sept. 26 /CNW/ - Insta-Rent Inc. (TSX-V: IRR) ("Insta-Rent" or the "Company") announced today that 17,594,649 Insta-Rent shares, representing approximately 89% of the outstanding Insta-Rent shares on a fully-diluted basis, were validly deposited to easyhome Ltd.'s ("easyhome") offer dated August 20, 2008 (the "Offer"). easyhome has taken-up the shares deposited under the Offer and will pay $0.50 per deposited Insta-Rent share on or before September 30, 2008.
It is intended that the board of directors of Insta-Rent will be replaced by easyhome appointees after the Insta-Rent shares are paid for and, at such time, a press release will be issued.
In order to enable those shareholders who have not yet tendered their Insta-Rent shares to the Offer to do so, easyhome announced that it has extended the Offer to 9:00 a.m. (Toronto time) on October 7, 2008, unless further extended. Except for this extension, the terms and conditions previously set forth in the Offer continue to be applicable in all respects. easyhome announced that it will mail a Notice of Extension to all registered holders of Insta-Rent common shares whose shares were not taken-up before the date of this extension.
easyhome has further announced that if it is successful in acquiring 90% of the Insta-Rent shares under the Offer, easyhome intends to acquire all of the remaining Insta-Rent shares by way of a statutory compulsory acquisition. In the event that easyhome does not acquire 90% of the Insta-Rent shares under the Offer, it intends to cause a meeting of Insta-Rent shareholders to be held to consider an amalgamation, by which easyhome would acquire all of the issued and outstanding Insta-Rent shares.
Insta-Rent shareholders are advised to read the Notice of Extension, the Offer to Purchase and Circular, the Directors' Circular and related documents, which are or will be filed with the Canadian securities commissions, as they contain important information. Shareholders will also be able to obtain a copy of the material on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com.
About Insta-Rent
Insta-Rent operates 50 locations across Canada under the Insta-Rent banner. Insta-Rent rents brand-name furniture, appliances, electronics and computers, with or without an option to purchase. Insta-Rent operates primarily in The Brick and United Furniture Warehouse locations, which are part of The Brick Group, one of Canada's largest volume retailers of household furniture, mattresses, appliances and home electronics.
Insta-Rent employs more than 200 associates and is headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta.
About easyhome
easyhome has 222 stores, including 207 Canadian corporate stores, 9 U.S. corporate stores, 5 Canadian franchised stores and 1 licensed Canadian store. easyhome is Canada's largest merchandise leasing company and the third largest in North America, offering top quality, brand name household furnishings, appliances and home electronic products to consumers under weekly or monthly leasing agreements. easyhome is listed on the TSX under the symbol 'EH'.
Forward-Looking Information
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation, including but not limited to, statements about the Company's objectives and strategies, financial results, expectations and outlook, whether for the Company's businesses or the Canadian economy. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "planned", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, closing of transactions, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to risks related to capital markets and additional funding requirements, the outcome of the Offer and, if successful, the integration of operations with easyhome as well as those factors discussed in the Company's documents filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).
All material assumptions used in making forward-looking statements are based on management's knowledge of current business conditions and expectations of future business conditions and trends, including management's knowledge of the current market within which the Company operates and other factors affecting the Company's products and the Canadian economy. Although the Company believes the assumptions used to make such statements are reasonable at this time and has attempted to identify in its continuous disclosure documents important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Certain material factors or assumptions are applied by the Company in making forward-looking statements, including without limitation, factors and assumptions regarding acceptance of its products in the marketplace, consumer purchasing trends, existing relationships as well as its operating cost structure and current legislation and orders regulating its business. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that are contained herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Further information on the Company is available at www.sedar.com.
The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
%SEDAR: 00026758E