Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Inc. and Carlyle Group are part of a buyout group that plans to acquire Hertz Corp., the largest U.S. car-rental company, from Ford Motor Co. for about $15 billion, people familiar with the matter said.

Clayton Dubilier of New York and Washington-based Carlyle, along with Merrill Lynch & Co.'s private-equity unit, have offered $5 billion of cash for Hertz, plus they would assume about $10 billion of debt, said the people, who declined to be identified. A deal may be announced as soon as tomorrow, the people said. It would be the largest leveraged buyout since Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. paid $31 billion for RJR Nabisco Inc. in 1989.

Ford, the No. 2 U.S. automaker, is selling Park Ridge, New Jersey-based Hertz to raise cash as it loses market share to rivals led by Toyota Motor Corp. Ford's North American business has been unprofitable for three of the past four quarters. Chief Executive Officer William Clay Ford Jr. has promised to increase earnings.

``The cash raised would be used to help fund Ford's restructuring,'' said Brian A. Johnson, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York, who has a ``market perform'' rating on Ford shares.

Clayton Dubilier spokesman Tom Franco, Carlyle spokesman Chris Ullman and Merrill spokeswoman Terez Hanhan declined to comment. Ford spokeswoman Becky Sanch and Hertz spokesman Richard Broome also declined to comment.

Ford's Ownership

Hertz rents cars from 7,400 locations in more than 150 countries. The company's net income more than doubled last year to $365.5 million. Revenue was $6.7 billion. Ford earned $3.49 billion on net sales of $171.7 billion in 2004.

Ford has owned all of Hertz since 2001, when it spent $707 million to buy back an 18.5 percent stake that it had sold to the public four years earlier. Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford had considered selling shares of Hertz in an initial public offering before deciding to accept takeover bids.

Hertz has been in the car-rental business since 1918 and in the equipment rental business for more than 40 years. It has partnerships with more than 60 airlines, railroads and hotel chains throughout the world, as well as with credit-card company American Express Co. and Internet travel company Expedia.

Clayton Dubilier, Carlyle and New York-based Merrill have been bidding for Hertz against a group that includes Blackstone Group LP and Texas Pacific Group, said the people, who declined to be identified. Blackstone spokesman John Ford declined to comment and Texas Pacific spokesman Owen Blicksilver didn't return calls.

Joining Forces

Buyout firms have been joining forces this year to make bigger acquisitions. SunGard Data Systems Inc of Wayne, Pennsylvania, whose software handles most Nasdaq Stock Market trades, was acquired last month by seven firms, including New York-based KKR and Blackstone, for $11.4 billion.

More than a record $190 billion of LBOs have been announced this year, data complied by Bloomberg show. Carlyle raised $7.85 billion in March for the biggest U.S. buyout fund and New York- based Blackstone has received commitments of $12.5 billion for a global fund.

Ford is being advised by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Goldman spokeswoman Andrea Rachman and JPMorgan spokesman Adam Castellani declined to comment. Citigroup spokesman Jon Diat didn't return a call seeking comment.

The buyout group is being advised by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Deutsche Bank AG and Merrill. Lehman spokeswoman Kerrie Ann Cohen declined to comment and Deutsche Bank spokesman Ted Meyer didn't return calls seeking comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brett Cole in New York at coleb@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 11, 2005 16:58 EDT