Fortress Investment Group explores sale of TRAC Intermodal for more than $1.7 bn

Private equity firm Fortress Investment Group is exploring a sale of US-based TRAC Intermodal in a deal that could value the logistics equipment leasing company at more than $1.7 billion, including debt, Reuters yesterday reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

New Jersey-based Fortress has hired investment bank Morgan Stanley to run an auction for TRAC, and expects first-round bids next month, the report said.

Fortress Investment had acquired Fortress in 2007 for $2.4 billion, including debt.

TRAC was established in 1968 as Interpool Limited and operated as a container leasing company that provided dry freight containers under long-term leases to the world's largest shipping lines. The company was rebranded in 2010 as TRAC Intermodal.

Today, TRAC is the largest provider of marine and domestic intermodal equipment in the US, Canada and Mexico.

It has more than 525 employees in more than 22 offices throughout the US and its revenue has grown by around 20 per cent per year since 2011.

Its fleet consists of around 272,000 chassis and has 630 marine, 167 domestic and 59 depot locations across North America.

TRAC Intermodal provides short term rentals through an extensive chassis pool network, long term chassis leasing and pool/fleet management through the utilisation of its proprietary PoolStat information management system.