UK: Private equity fund EQT Infrastructure II announced on November 15 that it had completed the acquisition of Groupe Eurotunnel’s UK freight operating subsidiary GB Railfreight. The acquisition with an enterprise value of €180m has been made through an indirectly-owned company within Hector Rail Group, Sweden’s largest private freight operator which is active across Scandinavia and Germany.
Bo Lerenius, Industrial Advisor to EQT and Chairman of Hector Rail Group, said GBRf had ‘proven its strength in the rail industry’. Its focus ‘on innovation and delivery of outstanding customer service are two key factors that make us believe that GB Railfreight is an excellent fit with Hector Rail’, he added.
GBRf is the third largest rail freight operator in the UK with a 15% market share and turnover in excess of £120m. It has 650 staff, more than 130 locomotives and 1 100 wagons, and operates more than 1 000 trains/week for customers including electricity generator Drax Group, Network Rail, EDF Energy, MSC UK, Aggregate Industries and Tarmac.
‘EQT’s business model is very much aligned with GB Railfreight’s’, said GBRf founder and Managing Director John Smith. ‘I look forward to working closely with our new owners to support our continued growth ambitions.’
