The purchase price allocation accounting for the assets in Avis’s acquisition of Zip Car will be interesting

According to its latest 10-Q, Zip Car had total assets of $429.6 million as of September 31 2012. Of that, $107.4 million is designated as goodwill and $3.6 million represents intangible assets remaining from various acquisitions (noncompete agreements, trade names, customer relationships, technology, etc.) Avis is paying approximately $500 million for Zip Car; there is an additional $70.4 million in home-grown intangibles and goodwill that Avis is buying. 36% of the value of the deal will be allocated to intangibles. Presumably the transferring customer relationships are unique to Avis, as is the different business model.