Pep Boys hires adviser to explore sale: report

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pep Boys-Manny Moe & Jack (PBY.N), the Philadelphia-based auto parts retailer, has hired Bank of America (BAC.N) to explore a sale of the company, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

Pep Boys is not likely to run a formal sale process, but is trying to drum up interest among private equity buyers such as Leonard Green & Partners, Bain Capital and TPG Capital TPG.UL, according to the report.

Separately, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday that Pep Boys had hired Goldman Sachs (GS.N) to sell itself in the past, but the process did not result in a sale.

The company started exploring a potential sale again late last year, but several private equity firms have shown "very little" interest in buying the company, that source said.

James Mitarotonda at Barington Capital Group, a hedge fund that owns 4.6 percent of the company as of September, has been leading the efforts to put the company up for sale, the source said.

It could not be learned on Friday if Bank of America (BAC.N) has been retained to run the latest efforts to sell the company.

Representatives for Bank of America were not immediately available for comment, while Pep Boys said it does not comment on unusual market activity.

Shares of Pep Boys jumped 16.8 percent to $14.40, valuing the company at $756.8 million.

(Reporting by Soyoung Kim; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Matthew Lewis)