Rival groups of investors are vying for the right to back the expected recovery of Hertz Global Holdings Inc.’s car-rental business and ease a path out of bankruptcy, <em>WSJ Pro Bankruptcy</em> reported. One offer was already on the table when a group led by Centerbridge Partners LP, Warburg Pincus LLC and Dundon Capital Partners stepped up with a competing funding package meant to lift the rental car provider out of bankruptcy. In court papers filed Monday, Hertz said the new offer is competitive with a proposal the company had previously floated to emerge from bankruptcy under the control of Knighthead Capital Management LLC, Certares Management LLC and other co-investors. “This competitive process remains ongoing,” Hertz said, noting that neither group has fully committed to a final deal. An early casualty of the travel-deadening effects of the coronavirus pandemic, Hertz filed for chapter 11 protection in May 2020, its fleets idled and its future prospects uncertain. The competing offers to shepherd the company out of chapter 11 cap months of financing and deal maneuvers that kept Hertz going. Both offers would pay off in full and in cash all senior claims, including bankruptcy financing and first- and second-lien debts, court papers said.
