Perella Weinberg Partners said on Thursday that it had sold its Chicago-based rail car leasing business to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation of Japan in a deal valued at $1.1 billion.
The business, Flagship Rail Services, has a fleet of 15,000 rail cars that transport steel, oil, agriculture products and other commodities and consumer goods. By number of rail cars, it is the ninth-largest lessor in North America. Â
Formerly owned by American International Group, the business was acquired by a unit of Perella Weinberg, Perella Weinberg Partners Asset Based Value Strategy, for $600 million in 2011. (The proceeds of the 2011 sale went toward paying back the federal government bailout of the insurance company.)
The Japanese financial giant, meanwhile, has been expanding its leasing business abroad. Last year, it lead a consortium that acquired the Royal Bank of Scotland’s aircraft leasing business for $7.3 billion.
Perella Weinberg Partners Asset Based Value Strategy manages more than $2.2 billion in equity capital through a number of different investment vehicles.
Macquarie Capital, Perella Weinberg Partners and Wells Fargo Securities advised the Perella Weinberg unit, while Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel served as legal advisers.
