** Shares of car-rental firm Hertz Global HTZ.O up 4.7% at $7.30 premarket after above-target capital raise to refinance debt
** Estero, Florida-based HTZ early Thurs announced pricing private offering of $375 mln 5.5% exchangeable notes due 2030
** Offering size boosted from $250 mln and initial conversion price set at $9.24, 32.5% above stock's last close
** Co intends to use $300 mln of net offering proceeds to fund partial redemption or repurchase of its outstanding notes due 2026 on or before Dec 31, 2025
** It also plans to use $33.26 mln of proceeds to pay cost of capped calls, derivative transactions employed to help offset potential dilution
** In connection with the pricing, affiliates of Pershing Square Capital Management entered into swap transactions in which Pershing will obtain long economic exposure to approx $125 mln of HTZ's common stock
** Earlier this year, hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman boosted his stake in HTZ through his investment management vehicle Pershing, expressing confidence in co's efforts to reduce costs to improve profit margins over the next several years
** Through Weds, HTZ shares up 90% YTD giving them a ~$2.2 bln market cap
** 6 off 10 analysts rate the stock "hold" and 4 rate "sell"; median PT is $3.55, per LSEG data