Rush Enterprises board approves $150M stock repurchase program

Rush Enterprises’ Board of Directors approved a new stock repurchase program authorizing the Company to repurchase, from time to time, up to an aggregate of $150 million of its shares of Class A Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share, and/or Class B Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share. The Company also today announced that, concurrently with and as part of the stock repurchase program, it has purchased 1,500,000 shares of Class B Common Stock for an aggregate consideration of $65.3 million from W.M. “Rusty” Rush, the Company’s Chairman of the Board, CEO and President. The transaction was funded with cash on hand. Mr. Rush advised the Company that the shares are being sold, in part, to repay a $40 million personal loan incurred by Mr. Rush with a balance of approximately $37 million that was secured by shares of the Class A Common Stock and Class B Common Stock owned by Mr. Rush as well as for financial diversification and tax planning purposes. The shares repurchased from Mr. Rush represent approximately 16.7% of the total shares of Class B Common Stock beneficially owned by Mr. Rush. After the transaction, Mr. Rush will continue to beneficially own 180,339 shares of Class A Common Stock and 7,493,809 shares of Class B Common Stock. The terms of the transaction were negotiated on behalf of the Company by a committee of independent directors of the Company’s Board of Directors with the assistance of its independent legal and financial advisors, Baker Botts L.L.P. and Houlihan Lokey Capital, Inc.