Avis Budget Group, Inc. announced the addition of 235 new positions to its Business Support Center (BSC) in Budapest, Hungary. The expansion will streamline financial, administrative and customer-service processes for the Company’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region and provide Avis Budget Group with significant cost savings.

Avis Budget Group’s expansion of its shared-services center is another aspect of the Company’s ongoing integration of its operations within Europe, following its acquisition of Avis Europe plc last October. The BSC initiative contributes toward Avis Budget Group’s acquisition synergies, which are expected to be providing more than $35 million in annual benefits by late 2012.

“Our Business Support Center expansion will enhance our customer service, and further drive efficiency throughout the region,” said Larry De Shon, president, EMEA, Avis Budget Group. “The initiative will better position Avis Budget EMEA for sustained, profitable growth, and at the same time will create significant employment opportunities in Hungary.”

The BSC’s main operations include accounting, accounts receivable, accounts payable, database management, fleet administration, information technology and customer service. The facility was established in January 2004, making Avis Budget one of the first international companies to set up a regional service center in the country. The new positions will bring the total number of BSC employees to approximately 550 with communication skills in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

“Avis Budget Group’s commitment to this country shows that they are satisfied with Hungary as a place to conduct business,” said Erzsébet Dobos, president of the Hungarian Investment Trade Agency. “We’re pleased that they have chosen to invest in our country and our future.”

Avis Budget Group announced its planned acquisition of Avis Europe in June of 2011 and completed the transaction in October of that year. The Company subsequently restructured its senior leadership team and global organization into three operating regions: North America; Europe, Middle East and Africa; and Latin America / Asia Pacific. The Company has since been focused on executing its integration plan.