DEARBORN, Mich. - Ford Motor Co. last month proposed to buy the 18.5 percent of Hertz Corp. it doesn't already own for $30 per share - a $597 million transaction that would include the world's largest car rental company and Hertz Equipment Rental Corp., No. 3 on the RER 100.

Ford, the No. 2 U.S. auto manufacturer, owns about 81.5 percent of Hertz common stock after spinning off a minority stake of the Park Ridge, N.J., company in a 1997 initial public offering. Ford's $30-per-share offer represented a 24 percent premium over Hertz's closing price of $24.25 at the time of the announcement.

Hertz's nine-member board of directors was evaluating the proposal at press time. The preliminary, nonbinding offer is subject to the board's approval and a definitive merger agreement.

The proposed buyout follows a major management shake-up at HERC in which several top-level executives have recently left the company, according to RER sources. HERC officials could not be reached for comment.