Car rental firms Hertz and Dollar Thrifty have signed an agreement to merge Dollar into the Hertz brand. Hertz will purchase Dollar Thrifty with a combination of cash and common stock at the price of $41.00 per share.

Chairman and chief executive officer at Hertz, Mark P Frissora, said that acquiring the $1.6 billion business was a strategic fit which would benefit both car hire firms. He said that by combining Dollar Thrifty’s more than 1,550 locations around the world with the Hertz global network, customers would be able to choose from an expanded range of rental options.

Frissora said that customers would now be able to access car hire at around 9,800 locations. He went on to point out that because Dollar Thrifty had such a global presence, the firms would now be able to increase their markets across Europe and beyond.

Frissora also said that by teaming up with Dollar Thrifty, Hertz would be better able to challenge other multi-brand car hire firms. He said that both companies would be able to operate at lower costs and that Hertz had already identified $180 million of synergies in areas such as IT, fleet and procurement.

Speaking about the announcement, Dollar Thrifty’s president and chief executive officer, Scott L Thompson, said that by joining with a larger company like Hertz, Dollar Thrifty would now be able to access better technology and more resources with which to expand the value of its leisure brand.