THE WOODLANDS, Texas — Conn’s Inc. has consummated an all-stock transaction making furniture retailer W.S. Badcock LLC a wholly owned subsidiary of Conn’s.
Badcock, with headquarters in Mulberry, Fla., operates about 380 stores in the Southeast under the Badcock Home Furniture & more nameplate, about 65 of which are corporate locations and 310-plus that are independent dealer-owned stores.
The all-stock transaction was unanimously approved by Conn’s board of directors and that of Franchise Group, which included W.S. Badcock within its portfolio of brands.
Conn’s also announced that Norman L. Miller has been named president and CEO of Conn’s. Miller has served as a board member since September 2015 and as interim president and CEO since October 2022. He previously served as Conn’s president and CEO between September 2015 and August 2021. Mitchell Stiles, president and COO of Badcock, will lead Badcock and report to Miller.
The transaction brings together two retailers with significant reach across 15 states. Combined, the company is expected to have annual revenue of about $1.85 billion from 550-plus stores, with e-commerce sales of about $125 million. Conn’s operates about 175 Conn’s HomePlus stores as well as online at Conns.com.
The combined company will also have a credit portfolio of $1.1 billion, projected to generate about $364 million in annual finance charges and other revenue. The deal brings together Conn’s in-house credit platform with Badcock’s existing financing capabilities.
“Today’s announcement represents one of the most significant events in the company’s over 120-year history,” said Bob Martin, Conn’s lead independent director. “The combination immediately positions Conn’s as a leading home good retailer across the Southern U.S. It also supports our existing strategic growth priorities by providing our unmatched payment options, leading e-commerce capabilities and premium shopping experience to more customers.”
“Conn’s and Badcock share complementary business models, histories and customers and the expected revenue and cost synergies are extremely powerful,” said Stiles. “We believe both our dealer and corporate owned stores will benefit from Conn’s customer-centric culture, best-of-class payment solutions, expanded product assortment and leading e-commerce platform.”
The all-stock deal was consummated with Conn’s issuing 1 million of its non-voting senior preferred shares convertible into a to-be issued class of non-voting common, subject to shareholder vote, representing 49.99% of Conn’s outstanding common stock after giving effect to the stock issuance and assuming the conversion of such preferred shares into non-voting common stock.
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