In some cities, cars can rent for more than $300 a day. By reducing its debt load, Hertz can make much-needed investments like modernizing its technology and buying cars, he said.
“It sets them up very well,” said Hamzah Mazari, an analyst at Jefferies, an investment bank. The company also lined up access to nearly $10 billion in loans, credit lines and other debt. The resolution of its bankruptcy allows Hertz to shed more than $5 billion in debt, including all of the corporate debt of Hertz Europe. The winning group of investors, led by Knighthead Capital Management and Certares Management, provided the company with $5.9 billion in capital. But a quick economic and travel rebound in recent months set off a bidding war to revive the company, which is more than a hundred years old. It is a remarkable turnaround for a business that was bloated with debt and struggling to survive just 13 months ago.
Its return coincides with and was made possible in part by a red-hot market for rental cars. Hertz, an early victim of the pandemic, officially emerged from bankruptcy on Wednesday.
