A year after being the target of a takeover attempt by one of its largest shareholders, Atlanta-based rent-to-own giant Aaron’s was being courted to sell again this year by competitor Rent-A-Center, Reuters reported in an exclusive story Tuesday.
The news agency said Rent-A-Center, the largest player in the rent-to-own retail market by store count, has approached Aaron’s several times informally in the past 12 months about selling, the most recent in early 2015, sources told Reuters. The outreach, however, did not lead to any serious discussions, Reuters said.
Aaron’s declined Tuesday to comment on the story.
Aaron’s, which has a market cap around $2.59 billion, is seeing its fortunes shift toward positive territory after struggling for several quarters. In its first quarter 2015 earnings last Friday, the company reported overall profit was $49.2 million, up from $38.3 million in the same period in 2014. Same-store foot traffic at company locations fell 4.2 percent in the quarter compared to the same time last year, but was an improvement over previous quarters.
Aaron’s second-largest shareholder Vintage Capital Management made an unsolicited $2.3 billion bid to takeover of the company in February 2014. The equity firm dropped the action two months later after Aaron’s $700 million purchase of online processor Progressive Finance.
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