One of North America’s largest infrastructure investors is betting big on the humble intermodal freight container, moving forward with a $13.3 billion offer to acquire publicly traded Triton International Ltd. and take it private.
Brookfield Infrastructure Corp. said last week that Triton’s shareholders had voted to approve the offer, which could close as soon as the third quarter of 2023, subject to certain closing conditions, including clearance from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
“This is another important step forward for our transaction with Brookfield Infrastructure, and we are pleased to have received overwhelming support from Triton’s shareholders,” Brian Sondey, Triton’s chairman and CEO, said in a release. “We look forward to completing the transaction and marking the beginning of a new chapter for Triton.”
Brookfield already owns and operates assets in the utilities, transport, midstream, and data sectors across North and South America, Asia Pacific, and Europe. The company is a unit of Brookfield Corporation, a global alternative asset manager with approximately $800 billion of assets under management.
Despite holding those “critical global infrastructure networks” for handling valuable energy, water, freight, passengers, and data, the company now has its eye set on buying a large collection of one of the most basic tools of global supply chains, the simple steel shipping container.
"Triton is an attractive business with highly contracted and stable cash flows, strong margins, and a track record of value creation," Sam Pollock, CEO of Brookfield Infrastructure, said in a release. "This transaction provides Brookfield Infrastructure with a high going-in cash yield, strong downside protection, and a platform for growth in the transportation and logistics sector.”
Bermuda-based Triton says it is the world’s largest lessor of intermodal freight containers. With a container fleet of over 7 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), Triton’s global operations include acquisition, leasing, re-leasing, and subsequent sale of multiple types of intermodal containers and chassis. The company was founded in 1980 and reached its current size through an $8.7 billion merger in 2016 with fellow container provider TAL International Group.
