NEW YORK, Nov 8: Deutsche Bank AG, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. have begun marketing to banks a financing package of more than $13 billion to back the leveraged buyout of car rental company Hertz Corp., according to the Loan Pricing Corp.

Ford Motor Co. is selling Hertz for $15 billion to a private equity group led by Clayton Dubilier & Rice as part of the automaker’s plan to reduce debt as it deals with rising costs.

The Clayton Dubilier & Rice-led group will pay $5.6 billion and assume nearly $10 billion in Hertz debt. The buyout group also includes Carlyle Group and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity.

The leveraged buyout is second in size only to the $25 billion buyout of RJR Nabisco in 1989, sources told the LPC, the syndicated loan unit of Reuters.

The financing is currently being syndicated only to a small group of bank lenders.

The leveraged buyout financing consists of a $3.6 billion senior secured bank loan and a $3.05 billion bridge loan.—Reuters