Private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) is preparing a bid for leading US car rental agency Hertz. By replacing Hertz’s top managers, improving capital management and driving down operating costs, CD&R sees an opportunity to nearly double EBITDA. However, the turnaround involves significant risks, which CD&R must weigh in preparing its bidding strategy.

In mid-2011, Steven Birdsall, then a 46-year old senior vice president at SAP, revives and scales up a neglected line of packaged software called Rapid Deployment Solutions (RDS), within the global $20 billion software giant.