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EXHIBIT 99.1
Contact: Richard W. FitzGerald
Chief Financial Officer
(713) 335-7000
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
UNIVERSAL COMPRESSION ANNOUNCES INITIAL PUBLIC
OFFERING OF 7 MILLION COMMON SHARES
Houston, Texas -- May 24, 2000 -- Universal Compression Holdings, Inc.
(NYSE: UCO) today announced the initial public offering of 7 million shares of
common stock at $22.00 per share. All of the shares are being offered by the
company. The company's common stock will be listed on the New York Stock
Exchange under the symbol "UCO."
The offering is being managed by Merrill Lynch & Co., Salomon Smith
Barney, Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown, First Union Securities, Inc. and Wasserstein
Perella Securities, Inc. The shares are being offered concurrently in the United
States and internationally. The company has granted the underwriters an option
to purchase up to an additional 1.05 million shares of common stock to cover
over-allotments, if any.
Universal Compression anticipates receiving approximately $142.9
million in net proceeds from the offering. The company intends to use the net
proceeds from the offering and a new operating lease facility that will close
concurrently with the offering to repay all outstanding indebtedness under an
existing credit facility and international debt arrangements, redeem the
company's 11 3/8% senior discount notes and for general corporate purposes.
Information about this offering is available in the prospectus filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of the prospectus may be
obtained from Merrill Lynch & Co., One Houston Center, 1221 McKinney, Suite
2700, Houston, Texas 77010. Additional information upon which the New York Stock
Exchange relied to approve the listing of the company is included in the listing
application, which is available to the public upon request.
This announcement shall not constitute an offer to sell or the
solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities
in any state in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.
Certain statements and information included herein may constitute
"forward-looking statements," which are made pursuant to the safe harbor
provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The
forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and may be
significantly impacted by certain risks and uncertainties described herein and
in Universal Compression Holdings, Inc.'s and Universal Compression, Inc.'s
reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. There can be no
assurance that statements made in this press release relating to future events
will be achieved. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise
forward-looking statements to reflect
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changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events, or changes to
future operating results over time.
Universal Compression Holdings, Inc., together with its operating
subsidiary Universal Compression, Inc., is headquartered in Houston, Texas and
is a leading natural gas compression services company, providing a full range of
rental, sales, operations, maintenance and fabrication services and products to
the natural gas industry.
