Munich/Singapore – The Railpool Group (RAILPOOL), one of Europe’s leading rail vehicle leasing companies for electric locomotives, today confirms GIC, a global institutional investor, has acquired a further 27% stake in the business from co-owner Palladio Partners, a German specialist in the field of global infrastructure investments. The transaction makes GIC the majority shareholder in RAILPOOL.
RAILPOOL was founded in 2008, with GIC first investing in 2016. Since then, the business has seen strong organic growth, entering new business areas such as the provision of passenger wagons to FlixTrain, and has completed a number of key acquisitions, including LocoItalia and workshop acquisitions. The company’s fleet of locomotives is 100% electric and operates a full-service leasing model.
Torsten Lehnert, CEO of RAILPOOL, says: “We are pleased to continue the strong and trustful partnership with GIC and Palladio Partners. Both have been successfully driving us on our mission to deliver sustainable traction to rail operators across Europe. Together, we have been remarkably increasing RAILPOOL’s economic footprint throughout the Region.”
Ingo Wurzer, CFO of RAILPOOL said: “With GIC and Palladio Partners we have been seeing RAILPOOL thrive through significant organic growth. We remain committed to further support the businesses growth in the new setup.”
Ang Eng Seng, CIO of Infrastructure at GIC commented: “RAILPOOL has delivered strong business performance since our first investment in 2016. During this period, RAILPOOL more than doubled its fleet. We expect growth in rail locomotive leasing to continue, driven in particular by ongoing replacement of owned locomotives with leased ones, and the shift from road to rail. We look forward to continuing to work closely with both Palladio Partners and RAILPOOL’s management team to take the company to the next stage of growth.”
Dr. Bernd Kreuter, Managing Partner at Palladio Partners adds: “We are proud to have been able to support Railpool on their growth track over the past years and are looking forward to continuing our partnership with both GIC and Railpool.”
