Rent-A-Center shareholders approved the sale of the Texas company to Florida-based Vintage Capital Management, but the deal is still under antitrust review.
That's why the merger is not likely to close until the first quarter of 2019, the companies said. In a filing Wednesday morning, Rent-A-Center said 41.54 million shares voted for the sale and 2.91 million shares voted against it.
The rent-to-own retailer's board in June approved the sale valued at $1.365 billion including debt, or $15 a share to Vintage, which is the controlling shareholder of Buddy's Home Furnishings, a Rent-A-Center competitor.
Rent-A-Center and Buddy's received requests for additional information and documents from the Federal Trade Commission in connection with the acquisition.
The chains may be forced to sell some stores. Buddy's has more than 300 stores and Rent-A-Center operates 2,350 stores in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. The companies haven't disclosed their overlap.
The FTC review extends the waiting period imposed by the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act until 30 days after the companies have complied with the request. The companies can ask for an extension and the FTC could clear the merger sooner.
Rent-A-Center also operates 1,250 Acceptance Now kiosks to extend credit to customer in other stores such as Ashley Furniture, Nebraska Furniture Mart and Rooms To Go.
