Corporate love is in the air

Dollar-Thrifty Automotive Group and Vanguard Car Rental, both Tulsa-based companies, are talking merger according to the New York Times:

A deal to combine four of the nation’s largest car rental brands — National, Alamo, Thrifty and Dollar — is being discussed as the industry continues to consolidate.

Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group is in early talks to merge with Vanguard Car Rental, of Tulsa, Okla., which owns National and Alamo, in a deal valued at more than $3 billion, according to people involved in the discussions.

The negotiations, which have been taking place on and off for several months, are at a particularly delicate stage, these people said, and may still collapse.

If completed, a deal would create the third-largest rental car company in the United States behind leaders Enterprise Rent-a-Car and Hertz Global Holdings, but outpacing Avis Budget Group in terms of revenue.

Both companies have ties to Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor and her husband, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, resident Bill Lobeck. Taylor and Lobeck met when both were working for DTAG. Lobeck later was involved in the deal to create Vanguard, which he heads. Vanguard is owned by Cerberus Capital Management, which also owns Albertsons LLC, the company that owns Albertson's stores in Oklahoma and most of the southwest.

The NYT story says digs some interesting information out of Vanguard's IPO filing:

A deal with Vanguard would most likely be a reverse merger, so that Vanguard would be the controlling shareholder.

Vanguard has tried to go public before. Last year it filed for an initial public offering, saying that it had earned $105.3 million in income from $2.89 billion in revenue in 2005. It said that it held a 20.5 percent market share in the top 125 airport markets where it operated, behind the Avis Budget Group, then controlled by Cendant, and Hertz. Vanguard paid a $122.6 million special dividend last June.

In that same filing, Vanguard said it had about 3,800 locations in 82 countries as of last June. Its fleet numbered about 300,000, the filing said. The company said it buys its fleet from General Motors and DaimlerChrysler, and had agreements with other manufacturers like Toyota and Kia.

Cerberus Capital Management acquired Vanguard out of bankruptcy for $240.1 million in cash when it was called the ANC Rental Corporation.

(Vanguard's initial S-1 and amended S-1 filings give a rare glimpse into the inner workings of a privately-held company, such as executive compensation and aircraft leasing.)