Takeovers and Mergers - the last Car Rental deal?

Will this prove to be the last takeover of a major care rental firm in the US? After five years of trying, market-leading car rental company Hertz has bought its rival Dollar Thrifty for $2.3bn (£1.5bn). However, as this article in the Guardian explains, this may be the last significant takeover in the car rental sector to be allowed by US competition regulators. Why? Because the market is now dominated by just three firms.

According to the article:

Three companies – Hertz, Avis and Enterprise Holdings, owner of the Alamo, National and Enterprise brands – now control 95% of the US car hire market.

As with any example of a significant horizontal integration, the enlarged business will be looking to extract substantial cost synergies from the combination of the businesses. According to the BBC:

“The new partners said the deal would lead to “significant growth opportunities” and $160m of cost savings each year.”