Stonepeak, an alternative investment firm specializing in infrastructure and real assets with $70 billion of assets under management, announced Tuesday it acquired Fleet Companies, a leading regional trailer dealership and leasing company.
Fleet Companies, headquartered in Memphis, serves a variety of transportation companies with trailer sales, leasing, drop yard and maintenance solutions. It has locations in Memphis, Nashville and Dallas.
"We view trailer leasing as an attractive sector and a strong fit for our investment strategy, given its essentiality to the transport supply chain, durable industry growth, and history of delivering solid returns on assets throughout economic cycles," says James Wyper, senior managing director and head of transportation and logistics at Stonepeak.
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Stonepeak says Fleet will serve as the seed asset for a national trailer platform Stonepeak plans to build out through additional acquisitions and operations across the U.S.
"Fleet is a high-quality operator with strong customer relationships," says Graham Brown, Stonepeak's managing director. "We have full confidence in John Wilbur and Erek Starnes, two industry veterans with whom we are partnering to grow this platform, and are optimistic about Fleet's ability to continue to grow and deliver for its customers."
Wilbur and Starnes are CEO and president and COO of Fleet, respectively.
"We are excited to partner with Stonepeak and tap into their deep industry expertise, operational support and broad capital base," the two says. "We look forward to prioritizing our customers' experience by expanding our fleet, upgrading our systems and leveraging our highly experienced team. This transaction positions us well to become an industry leader with a hyper focus on customer satisfaction. We look forward to working with the Stonepeak team to take Fleet into a new chapter of growth."
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed and it has already closed.
