Infinity Transportation acquired by Ares

KKR agreed to sell Infinity Transportation to funds managed by Ares Infrastructure Equity and Ares Insurance Solutions, at an enterprise value of $1–10bn. Completion was expected in the first quarter of 2027, subject to customary conditions and regulatory approvals. Global Atlantic, the insurance subsidiary of KKR, had held the company since 2016, and the management team led by Jeff Edelman stayed in place. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Atlanta, Infinity owns railcars and leases them to the companies that ship goods by rail. It holds around 50,000 wagons of varying types, covered hoppers for grain and plastics, tank cars for chemicals, flat cars for intermodal containers, and hires them out to more than 350 customers across the United States, Canada and Mexico, either bare or with maintenance included. It also structures financing against the equipment itself. Shippers lease rather than buy because a railcar costs well over a hundred thousand dollars, lasts forty years and is needed in numbers that vary with trade. For the lessor, that long life is what makes the asset attractive: the car outlives several leases, retains its value, and can be redeployed to another customer when a contract ends. Since 2021 the company had built its own operating platform rather than relying on its owner’s, and expanded its fleet, raising its book value by 150% to become one of the largest railcar lessors in the United States. Ares invested on the expectation that demand for this equipment follows the reshoring of American manufacturing and the investment in domestic industrial capacity, and intended to fund further fleet growth and acquisitions. Macquarie Capital advised KKR, with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett as legal counsel, while Citi advised Ares, with Kirkland & Ellis as counsel.