For the first time since its foundation five years ago, ELL changes its owner. Founding investment firm KKR sells the company to a consortium of AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets and Crédit Agricole Assurances.
ELL was founded in 2014 by Christoph Katzensteiner, who still is the company’s CEO. The ratio behind the company’s foundation was to fill the gap of versatile electric locomotives on an unsaturated European market. The company, focusing on leasing of the locomotive fleet to rail operators, now owns almost 150 locomotives, more specifically Siemens Vectrons in a well-recognized green, white and anthracite/dark blue livery. They appear in ELL or lessees’ liveries by over 20 rail freight and passenger operators across Europe. Headquartered in Vienna, the company is strategically positioned to serve Central and Eastern European markets (CEE), with the most recent growth focusing on south-east Europe.
Christoph Katzensteiner, who is also a minority shareholder of ELL says:
“I would like to thank KKR for having believed in us from the beginning and having enabled me and my team to turn the vision we had for ELL into a successful reality. I also want to welcome AXA IM – Real Assets and Crédit Agricole Assurances as our new partners, who will provide significant further resources to bring our company to the next level.”
By closing the deal, the estimated company value is now worth almost € 1 bn, financial sources state.
Railcolor: we have a dedicated page about ELL. This includes company profile, locomotive types, fleet list, liveries overview, and all the news that we ever created regarding European Locomotive Leasing. You can find all the details here.
Related posts:
