Winning the $15bn (€12bn) auction for Hertz, the car hire group, may have been the easy part. For any new business owner, the real challenge comes once the asset is won. For Hertz's new private equity owners, growing a business that operates from 7,000 locations in 150 countries ranks as one of the biggest challenges the private equity industry has had. At least Hertz is making a profit.

Were it not, then its new owners, Clayton Dubilier & Rice, Merrill Lynch Private Equity and The Carlyle Group, might be facing a task beyond their capabilities. As it stands, running a business with as many locations, nationalities and cultures as Hertz has is going to take all their operational know-how. Don Gogel, president and chief executive of CD&R, said creating a globally seamless Hertz product was vital. "I do not see this as being more complicated than many other deals, despite the number of locations Hertz operates from," he said.