RAILPOOL And GIC Expand Partnership

On 4 May 2023, the Railpool Group (RAILPOOL) confirmed that 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 in München, 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 cars 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.

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.”

RAILPOOL is one of the largest providers in Europe with more than 440 locomotives and 148 passenger vehicles (and an investment total of 1.9 billion EUR). The RAILPOOL fleet covers 85 million km every year and has its own warehouse with more than 4,000 different spare parts and components.

GIC is a leading global investment firm established in 1981 to secure Singapore’s financial future. As the manager of Singapore’s foreign reserves, it takes a long-term approach to investing, and is uniquely positioned across a wide range of asset classes and active strategies globally. These include equities, fixed income, real estate, private equity, venture capital, and infrastructure. Headquartered in Singapore, it has a global force of over 1,900 people in 11 key financial cities and investments in over 40 countries.

Palladio Partners is the specialist for German institutional investors in the field of global infrastructure investments in real assets, in particular infrastructure investments. The owner-managed investment boutique with offices in Frankfurt and Luxembourg was founded in 2012. Today with its payroll of over 70 staff members it has assets of approx. 8.8 billion EUR under management. Palladio Partners advises German institutional investors, in particular from the pension sector, on realizing their potentially highly complex individual investment strategies. In the field of infrastructure investments, Palladio is the leading advisor to the 50 top German investors.