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IN THE COURT OF CHANCERY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE


UNITED RENTALS, INC.,        )
                 Plaintiff,      )  
     )
v.      )            Civil Action No. 3360-CC      )



RAM HOLDINGS, INC., and       )
RAM ACQUISITION CORP.,       )
                 Defendants.      )


O P I N I O N


Date Submitted:  December 19, 2007
Date Decided:  December 21, 2007


Collins J. Seitz, Jr., Matthew F. Boyer, and Christos T. Adamopoulos, of CONNOLLY BOVE LODGE & HUTZ LLP, Wilmington, Delaware; OF COUNSEL:  Richard D. Bernstein, Tariq Mundiya, and John R. Oller, of WILLKIE FARR & GALLAGHER LLP, New York, New York; Leslie A. Lupert, Thomas A. Brown II, and Timothy D. Sini, of ORANS, ELSEN & LUPERT LLP, New York, New York; Roger E. Schwed, of UNITED RENTALS, INC., Greenwich, Connecticut, Attorneys for Plaintiff.

Gregory P. Williams, Raymond J. DiCamillo, Richard P. Rollo, and John D. Hendershot, of RICHARDS, LAYTON & FINGER, P.A., Wilmington, Delaware; OF COUNSEL:  Michael L. Hirschfeld, Scott A. Edelman, and Daniel M. Perry, of MILBANK, TWEED, HADLEY & MCCLOY LLP, New York, New York; Stuart L. Shaprio, of SHAPIRO, FORMAN, ALLEN, SAVA & MCPHERSON LLP, New York, New York, Attorneys for Defendants.



CHANDLER, Chancellor

In classical mythology, it took a demigod to subdue Cerberus, the beastly three-headed dog that guarded the gates of the underworld.1  In his twelfth and final labor, Heracles2 journeyed to Hades to battle, tame, and capture the monstrous creature.  In this case, plaintiff United Rentals, Inc. journeyed to Delaware to conquer a more modern obstacle that, rather than guards the gates to the afterlife, stands in the way of the consummation of a merger.  Nevertheless, like the three heads of the mythological Cerberus, the private equity firm of the same name presents three substantial challenges to plaintiff

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