Hertz Corp. has filed for an initial public offering in an effort to raise cash and improve the debt rating for Ford Motor Co., which owns Hertz.

The June 13 Securities and Exchange Commission filing indicated that Hertz planned to offer about $100 million in Class A common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "HTZ."

According to a news report in the Wall Street Journal, analysts value Hertz at $4 billion to $6 billion.

The SEC filing suggested that Ford plans to sell off its remaining interest in Hertz following the IPO.

"Ford has indicated to us that it expects, subject to market conditions, to completely divest its ownership in us," the filing stated.

In 2004, Hertz's worldwide car rental operations generated $5.5 billion in revenue and $437.6 million in income before income taxes and minority interest, the filing stated. About 74% of the company's worldwide car rental revenues came from on-airport locations in 2004.

In the U.S. last year, Hertz held about 30% market share, based on revenues, at the 180 largest airports where the company has operations, according to the SEC filing. That's more than nine percentage points higher than the closest competitor.

Also last year, Hertz's worldwide equipment rental operations generated $1.2 billion in revenue.

Hertz has company-operated car rental locations in the U.S. and all the major markets in Europe, as well as in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.