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Related Party Transactions
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]  
Related Party Transactions
RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
The Company leases certain properties under capital leases with certain related parties that are more fully described in Note 7 above.
On May 13, 2016, the Company sold its remaining 82 Company-operated HomeSmart stores to Buddy's Newco for $35.0 million. Refer to Note 1 for more information on the sale. Buddy’s Newco is a subsidiary of Buddy’s Home Furnishings ("Buddy’s"), the third largest lease-to-own home furnishings provider in the United States. Buddy’s is a portfolio company of Vintage Capital Management ("Vintage"), a private equity fund controlled by Brian R. Kahn. Based on information provided in a Schedule 13G filed with the Securities Exchange Commission on August 12, 2015 (the latest available filing made by Vintage), Vintage owned approximately 10% of the Company’s outstanding common stock. In May 2014, Mr. Kahn and Matthew E. Avril joined the Company’s Board of Directors. In August 2015, Mr. Kahn resigned from the Board, but not due to any disagreement with the Company. At the time the HomeSmart transaction was approved by the Company’s Board of Directors, Mr. Avril owned a limited partnership interest in Vintage, served as a strategic advisor to Vintage and served as a director of a Vintage portfolio company.
In connection with the HomeSmart transaction, the Company engaged a nationally recognized and independent financial advisor with substantial experience in transactions involving lease-to-own companies to conduct a thorough review of likely potential purchasers of the HomeSmart business. Through that process, Buddy’s emerged as the only interested potential purchaser of the business with the financial ability to consummate such a transaction on terms likely satisfactory to the Company. In addition, prior to its approval of the HomeSmart transaction, the Company’s Board of Directors obtained a fairness opinion from a nationally recognized and independent valuation firm, to opine on the fairness, from a financial point of view, of the consideration to be paid by Vintage to the Company in connection with the HomeSmart transaction. Based on these and other factors, the Company’s Board of Directors approved the HomeSmart transaction, with Mr. Avril abstaining from the Board’s vote on the transaction.
In February 2017, the Company entered into transactions with five franchisees of Buddy’s (the “Franchisees”), pursuant to which the Company acquired certain customer rental contracts from those Franchisees, and the Franchisees acquired from the Company certain Company customer rental contracts, as well as Company inventory (collectively, the “Transactions”). The aggregate, net amount of the consideration the Company paid to the Franchisees in connection with the Transactions was approximately $0.6 million. In addition, the Franchisees agreed to sublease certain former Company store locations from the Company for aggregate payments of approximately $40,000 per month. As discussed in the preceding paragraphs of this Note, Buddy’s is a portfolio company of Vintage, and Vintage owns approximately 10% of the Company’s outstanding common stock. In addition, Mr. Avril, who resigned from the Company’s Board effective June 3, 2016, but not due to any disagreement with the Company, has, as discussed above, served as a limited partner of and strategic advisor to Vintage and served on the board of a Vintage portfolio company.
Before the Company entered into the Transactions and the sublease arrangements related thereto, the Audit Committee of the Company’s Board of Directors held a meeting during which Company management provided the Audit Committee with information regarding matters such as: (i) the aggregate, net amount the Company proposed to pay the Franchisees upon the consummation of the Transactions; (ii) the valuation method utilized in determining the pricing and financial terms for the Transactions and sublease arrangements related thereto; (iii) the remaining duration of the leases for the Company stores that Franchisees would sublease from the Company, and the aggregate amount of the proposed sublease payments arising therefrom, as compared to the aggregate amount of the payments owed by the Company under those leases; (iv) how the proposed pricing (and valuation methods related thereto) and other terms and conditions of the proposed Transactions compared to those of similar transactions the Company previously has engaged in with other parties who are not affiliated with Buddy’s, Vintage or any other related party; (v) the nature of the negotiations that had taken place between the Company and the Franchisees with respect to the proposed Transactions; and (vi) why the proposed Transactions were in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders. After reviewing that information, and other information presented by management, and consulting with an external professional advisor, the Audit Committee approved and authorized Company management to enter into the Transactions with the Franchisees, and the sublease arrangements related thereto, on the financial terms and other terms and conditions that had been presented to the Audit Committee, and management subsequently did so.