Hertz may have deal to sell Advantage
BY Staff and Wire Reports
Thursday, June 14, 2012
6/14/12 at 3:04 AM
Hertz Global Holdings Inc. may have reached an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission staff over the planned sale of its Advantage unit to the parent of U-Save, Bloomberg News reported.
Bloomberg cited an article in The Deal, which quoted a person close to the matter.
According to the report, one issue regulators had was Hertz financing U-Save's purchase of Advantage.
U-Save is a rental car firm owned by Franchise Services of North America. U-Save has been in the rental car business for more than 30 years and has more than 200 car and truck rental locations around the world. U-Save provides discount car rental to businesses, individuals and families.
Hertz said last month it reached a "material agreement" to divest Advantage.
Selling Advantage is a key step toward getting antitrust clearance for an acquisition of Tulsa-based Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc. Hertz has been trying to buy Dollar Thrifty, which employs about 700 in Tulsa, for more than two years.
In October, Hertz said it withdrew a hostile takeover bid for Dollar Thrifty because of market conditions and the target company's share-repurchase program. Dollar Thrifty said Oct. 11 it wanted to take itself off the market and would begin to buy back some of its shares.
Hertz in October said it would continue to pursue FTC approval to buy Dollar Thrifty and would assess the proper offer price based on the buyback, market conditions and Dollar Thrifty's performance.
Hertz, based in Park Ridge, N.J., fell 16 cents Wednesday to $12.25 at the close of trading in New York. Dollar Thrifty dropped 82 cents to $79.17.
CNBC reported late last month that a Hertz-Dollar Thrifty deal was "not imminent."
Original Print Headline: Hertz may have pact to sell Advantage
