Sixt, the German car rental firm, and buy-out group Apax Partners, are in the early stages of preparing a joint bid for Europcar, part of Germany's Volkswagen. Analysts have valued the division at up to €2.5bn ($2.7bn).

Reuters, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, reports that the consortium will face competition from buy-out firms including Cinven, Cerberus and Merrill Lynch Private Equity. Banking sources said The Carlyle Group, the US buy-out group, was also considering a bid.