Private Florida firm buys Rent-A-Center in $1 billion deal

An Orlando private equity firm has purchased lease-to-own business Rent-A-Center in a deal valued at more than $1 billion. Vintage Capital Management put a bid in for the company on Friday: $15 per share, $1 per share above its previous offer. Rent-A-Center, based in Plano, Texas, said it accepted the bid on Monday. The deal is valued at nearly $1.4 billion. See the press release about the deal and read more at the Tampa Bay Times, Chain Store Age, and Reuters.

Florida smokable medical marijuana ruling put on hold

Florida circuit court has reinstated a stay on smoking medical marijuana. The state's 1st District Court of Appeal has ruled that the hold will remain in effect "pending final disposition of the merits of (a recent) appeal." More from the AP and TBO.com.

See also:
» Latest ruling from 1st District Court of Appeals in the case, "Florida Department of Health v. Joseph Redner"

Florida Trend Exclusive
Shore thing: Florida ‘Surf Rover' will study the ocean floor

Engineers have built vehicles that can roam Mars, but creating a vehicle that can roam Earth’s shorelines has been a bigger challenge, says William Dally, associate professor of civil engineering at the University of North Florida. Dally is working on a remote-operated vehicle called the Surf Rover to study the impact of storms, erosion and other hazards on the coastline. Full story here (part of a business news roundup for Northeast Florida.)

How a Florida utility became the global king of green power

Who is the world’s largest operator of wind and solar farms? It’s also America’s most valuable power company. Still stumped? It’s by design. NextEra became a renewable-energy Goliath using tax subsidies to help finance projects around the country and avoiding debt—staying quiet about it all. [Source: Wall Street Journal]

Report: 40 percent of Florida property will be ‘highly exposed’ to flooding

One of Florida’s biggest draws is also one if its biggest liabilities — its coastline. A new report projects that Florida is at the greatest risk of any state for tidal flooding caused by rising sea levels. And Tampa Bay faces some of the greatest risk within the Sunshine State. More information in the report from the Union of Concerned Scientists. Also read more at the Tampa Bay Times and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

See also:
» Could raising a 90-year-old road fix South Florida's water problems?
» Climate change is moving fish around faster than laws can handle, study says

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Two Florida towns among America's poorest [USA Today]
While incomes have risen for the majority of households since the Great Recession, some parts of the United States have become poorer over the last decade -- mostly low-income areas -- as income inequality increased.

› City National Bank completes acquisition of TotalBank [Press Release]
City National Bank of Florida is now the third-largest Florida-based bank after completing the acquisition of Miami-based TotalBank. After paying $529 million to Banco Santander (NYSE: SAN), Miami-based City National Bank now has nearly $14 billion in assets.

› Medical marijuana drive-thru coming to Florida [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
Curaleaf, which has pot retail outlets in Miami-Dade and Lake Worth, will be adding a new store with a drive-thru option in Palm Harbor just northwest of Tampa. The company says it’s the first dispensary in Florida with a drive-thru.

› Florida Aquarium continues coral restoration research in Cuba [Tampa Bay Times]
At the current rate of restoration work, some estimate it will be 550 years before certain types of coral are removed from the endangered species list. "I don’t know if that timeline works for you," Scott Graves, director of the Florida Aquarium’s Center for Conservation, sarcastically said. "But I am impatient."

Go to page 2 for more stories ...

› Citizens’ CEO: AOB reform could slash insurance rates by 20 percent for a half-million homeowners [Florida Watchdog]
Unless the state Legislature implements restrictions on assignment of benefits (AOB) agreements between property owners and contractors, Florida’s publicly-owned property insurer could be litigated into imposing “dramatic” rate hikes on nearly a half-million homeowners.

› 2,000-home, farm-themed neighborhood — known as an 'agrihood' — coming to Wellington [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
An “agrihood” is coming to Wellington. Think of a romantic vision of the countryside suitable for a novel — a planned community that integrates agriculture into a residential neighborhood, all within driving distance of the bustling downtown of West Palm Beach.

› Orlando jobs at theme parks can be fun, strange or both [Orlando Sentinel]
Bored you are with the work you’ve been doing? Here are more than a dozen unusual job listings this month at Orlando’s three major theme parks — Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando — that could liven up your work day.

› Are travelers cooling to the sharing economy? [USA Today]
Attitudes toward the sharing economy may be cooling just as the summer travel season heats up. Angela Diaz suffers from travel sharing fatigue. She recently rented a two-bedroom home in Dania Beach, Florida, but wishes she'd stayed in a hotel, instead.