By Greg Hazley
Car sharing service Zipcar is working with outside PR and IR counsel for its $500M acquisition by car rental giant Avis Budget Group, announced today.
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher is providing PR support while The Blueshirt Group is IR counsel to Zipcar.
John Barrows is VP of corporate communications for ABG, part of Cendant. He told O’Dwyer’s the company is handling communications for the acquisition in-house.
Avis and 12-year-old Zipcar announced the $12.25-per-share deal Jan. 2 with an eye on closing the transaction by the spring. The offer is a 49% premium on the Dec. 31, 2012 closing price of Zipcar, which went public in 2011.
Zipcar, which competes with services from Hertz and Enterprise Holdings, counts 760K members for its service, estimated to be part of an overall $400M car sharing market in the U.S. While traditional car rentals are termed in days, car sharing services rent by the hour.
Ronald Nelson, chairman and CEO of Avis and a past critic of car sharing, said the deal significantly increases his company's growth potential in the U.S. and abroad. He called car sharing "highly complimentary" to Avis' core car rental business with rapid growth potential and scalability.
Zipcar will operate as a subsidiary of ABG to be based in Boston.
Zipcar shares jumped more than 48% to $12.23 in afternoon trading Jan. 2. Avis shares were up more than four percent to $20.73. |