Earlier this year, Hertz offered to buy Dollar Thrifty for $57.60 in cash and 0.8546 shares of Hertz stock for each Dollar Thrifty share. That was a sweetening of a previous offer that was rejected by Dollar Thrifty shareholders.
But Dollar Thrifty has advised its shareholders against accepting Hertz’ most recent offer.
In a statement, Scott Thompson, Dollar Thrifty’s chief executive, said he knew his company’s standalone value would make it tough for anyone to buy. But he added that he was pleased that Avis made progress toward getting antitrust approval and left the door open for another possible deal with Avis down the road.
“In this circus you just never know what the future will bring,’’ Thompson said.
Avis originally made an informal offer for Dollar Thrifty in September of $45.79 per share in cash and 0.6543 shares of Avis. It held off on making a formal offer, because it wanted to work on getting antitrust approval for the deal first.
Rich Broome, a spokesman for Hertz, said Avis’s decision changes nothing for Hertz, which remains focused on getting its offer approved by the Federal Trade Commission. He declined to comment on if or when the company could possibly receive FTC approval.
