TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 6 - - Walter Industries, Inc. (NYSE: WLT) today announced that early termination of the antitrust waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act has been granted for the Company's planned acquisition of Mueller Water Products, Inc.
The transaction remains subject to various customary closing conditions, including the funding of financing. The Company continues to expect that the transaction will close within the next several weeks.
Walter Industries, Inc. is a diversified company with 2004 revenues of $1.5 billion. The Company is a leader in affordable homebuilding, financing, and water transmission products, and is a significant producer of high-quality metallurgical coal for worldwide markets. Based in Tampa, Fla., the Company employs approximately 5,200 people. For more information about Walter Industries, please visit the Company Web site at http://www.walterind.com .
Safe Harbor Statement
Except for historical information contained herein, the statements in this release are forward-looking and made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the Company's actual results in future periods to differ materially from forecasted results. Those risks include, among others, changes in customers' demand for the Company's products, changes in raw material, labor, equipment and transportation costs and availability, geologic and weather conditions, changes in extraction costs and pricing in the Company's mining operations, the cost and timing of returning Mine No. 5 to operation, changes in customer orders, pricing actions by the Company's competitors, the collection of approximately $14 million of receivables associated with a working capital adjustment arising from the sale of a subsidiary in 2003, potential changes in the mortgage-backed capital market, and general changes in economic conditions. Those risks also include the closing of the Mueller transaction and the timing of and ability to execute on any strategic action that may be pursued. Risks associated with forward-looking statements are more fully described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company assumes no duty to update its outlook statements as of any future date.
