The parent company of Advantage Rent a Car filed for bankruptcy protection, the second big car-rental company to seek protection from creditors in less than a week as travel restrictions from the coronavirus pandemic continue to ripple through the economy, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Private-equity-owned Advantage Holdco Inc. filed for chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., along with a half dozen affiliates, including E-Z Rent a Car LLC, a sister company in the low-price rental sector. Debts top $500 million, according to papers filed late in the evening Tuesday. Advantage follows Hertz Global Holdings Inc., one of the nation’s biggest rental-car companies, into chapter 11 as the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has devastated air travel, a key component of the rental car business. The pandemic has also caused big drops in the value of rental-car company fleets and virtually frozen the used-car market. Advantage, the fourth-largest rental car company in North America, is owned by funds managed by Catalyst Capital Group Inc., a Canadian investment firm based in Toronto. Hertz at one point owned Advantage, having purchased the assets of its smaller rival out of bankruptcy in a 2009 deal. Advantage was later divested so Hertz could get regulatory approval to acquire another bargain operator.
