Avis Budget Group Inc. bought Payless Car Rental for US$50 million in cash. This would allow the company to add a unit concentrated on value customers.

According to a statement made by Avis, Payless could be found in roughly 120 locations in Europe, North America and South America. It generated around US$80 million in its yearly revenue.

Avis was the third largest car-rental corporation in the US. In March, it was able to acquire the car-sharing business Zipcar Inc worth US$500 million. Avis sought to vie in a consolidating industry.

"Payless expands our global footprint, enables us to support Budget's mid-tier brand positioning, and gives us greater flexibility to capitalize on opportunities in an additional segment of the car rental market in order to help accelerate our growth," Ron Nelson, Avis Budget's Chief Executive Officer, stated.

The Parsippany, New Jersey-based company would operate Payless as a different band. The company said that it anticipated "significant" cost investment from the deal as well as from the decreased fleet interest expenditure.