DealZone

Hertz Global Holdings is back in the market for smaller car rental firm Dollar Thrifty, offering close to $2.1 billion, taking advantage of rival Avis Budget’s problems getting regulatory clearance for a rival bid. Hertz first bid for Dollar Thrifty in April, 2010, but following a bidding war with Avis, the Hertz offer was voted down by Dollar Thrifty shareholders in September.

Volkswagen made a long-awaited bid for MAN, valuing it at $20 billion and stepping up plans to merge the German truckmaker with Swedish rival Scania in which it also holds a controlling stake. Europe’s largest carmaker made the offer, which is less than the stock was trading for last week, after it increased its stake above 30 percent, requiring a mandatory bid for the remaining shares under German rules. Volkswagen has been toying with plans to create Europe’s biggest truckmaker by merging MAN with Scania.

The New York Times DealBook profiles newly crowned department store prince Richard A. Baker. Just before the recession, Baker bought the Lord & Taylor and Canada’s Hudson’s Bay Company chains and most people expected the private equity dealmaker to lose his shirt. But Baker has proved the naysayers wrong.