Avis Budget Follows IPO Trend

Shares of Avis Budget Group this month began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in the latest shift of a major car rental brand from a privately owned piece of a conglomerate to an individual, public company.

The Avis Budget Group was formed following a vote for the name change by Cendant Corp.'s shareholders. Cendant had spun off most of its diverse operations, including Orbitz and Galileo parent company Travelport and the Wyndham Hotel Group.

Meanwhile, two other car rental companies are in the midst of the initial public offering process. Vanguard Car Rental Group, parent of the National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car brands, filed for its IPO in August, and Hertz Global Holdings, which recently had been a part of Ford Motor Co., already had done so in July.

As these initial public offerings occur, analysts said travel managers will get more insight into the finances of the companies, as they will be providing quarterly reports that are not buried among a larger company's report.

Avis Budget, meanwhile, this summer rolled out several new products and named a new senior vice president of marketing: Becky Alseth, who joined Avis Budget in 2004 as vice president of branding and now will oversee marketing and any other brand-building efforts for Avis Rent A Car and Budget Rent A Car from the companies' Parsippany, N.J., headquarters.

GPS OPTIONS EXPAND

This summer, Avis and Budget introduced a new global positioning system navigational tool would be available at an additional cost for any vehicle in their fleets. Avis also enhanced its electronic monitoring capabilities to allow corporate travel managers to create customized reports, began offering customers electronic receipt options and rolled out of electronic toll-payment devices in its Houston fleet.

At a fee of $2.25 per day, renters in Houston can use the PlatePass technology to travel through high-speed toll lanes, and customers later will receive an itemized list of toll charges through the mail.

The company said it is moving forward with toll-payment technology in the New York market and elsewhere throughout the Northeast.