(Adds comment from market source, Standard Life)
LONDON, June 27 (Reuters) - Investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein said on Thursday it placed 15 million shares in car rental company Avis Europe Plc, which earlier issued a profit warning.
A Dresdner spokesman said the shares were placed at 123 pence per share with a number of institutions.
A market source said the 15 million shares -- representing about 2.5 percent of Avis's 585 million shares in issue -- had been placed on behalf of a single institution.
The shares, which closed at 172-3/4 pence on Wednesday, were down 27.6 percent to 125p by 1312 GMT after its profit warning. Volume was 34.6 million shares.
Avis Europe said it expected profits this year would be lower because companies had curbed travel budgets and it did not see a recovery in corporate volumes in the second half.
A spokeswoman for Standard Life Investments declined to say whether her company had sold shares on Thursday.
"We have a 2.8 percent stake and we feel that profit forecasts for the company have been brought down to what are quite conservative levels now," the spokeswoman said.