American car rental company Hertz saw its dollar bonds rally after two investment firms agreed to buy a majority stake for $4.2bn in the company. The lifeline is expected to help it out of bankruptcy by mid-summer this year, as stated by Hertz in a press release yesterday. Knighthead Capital Management LLC and Certares Opportunities LLC will serve as the plan sponsors and will commit to invest up to $4.2bn to purchase up to 100% (but not less than a majority) of the common stock of the reorganized company. Hertz filed for bankruptcy protection in May 2020 after the pandemic brought its business to a standstill. The company reported 50% lower revenues of $4.5bn and losses of $1.7bn in 2020 vs. $55mn in 2019. Besides, the company has been struggling even prior to the pandemic reporting only two profitable years between 2014 to 2019. CEO Paul Stone said, “We are excited to reach this important milestone in our restructuring process. Our Plan of Reorganization provides us a clear path forward to completing our financial restructuring and emerging from Chapter 11 by early to mid-summer. The support of the Plan sponsors demonstrates their confidence in Hertz’s growth potential.”
Hertz’s 7.625% 2022s are up 2 cents to 107.3 cents a dollar and their 7.125% 2026s were up 6.5% to 81.5 yesterday.
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