I Squared Agrees to Acquire Australian Trailer Leaser Rentco

Infrastructure investor I Squared Capital has agreed to acquire Australian truck and trailer leasing business Rentco Transport Equipment Rentals.

(Bloomberg) — Infrastructure investor I Squared Capital has agreed to acquire Australian truck and trailer leasing business Rentco Transport Equipment Rentals.

I Squared has signed a definitive agreement to buy the firm, which rents out what it said is the country’s largest fleet of heavy duty transport equipment, and to commit another A$300 million ($201 million) to support Rentco’s growth, according to a Tuesday statement confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report. The deal values Rentco at about A$200 million, a person familiar with the matter has said.

Any deal and expansion capitalizes on a footprint of depots across mainland Australia that already houses a combined 3,500 trucks, trailers, forklifts and other equipment as logistics demand Down Under is surging to catch up with other major developed economies. It may also be a bellwether for more heavy equipment leasing transactions just as Asia-Pacific’s biggest owner of cranes, Singapore-based Tat Hong, weighs an exit of its Australian operations, Bloomberg reported in February.

The deal marks the latest for I Squared, which has $37 billion in assets under management. In 2021, the firm purchased trailer rental outfit Star Leasing. Following the Rentco transaction, I Squared’s global transport and logistics portfolio will have over 264,000 trailers or chassis with 3,700 employees in more than 20 countries, the statement shows.

(Updates throughout with official statement.)

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com