DC Advisory advised a Consortium (comprising CDPQ and DWS) on the acquisition of Ermewa from SNCF and DWS on a capital raise to finance its 50% share

Background

• Ermewa Holdings (Ermewa) ranks as one of the leading players in the railcar and tank container leasing business with operations in 40 locations, serving 80+ countries and a successful track record of over 60 years in the industry
• Ermewa operates a combined fleet of over 100,000 units - of which 41,800 are railcars and 58,800 are tank containers - and employs c.1,200 people across the whole group
• Ermewa also owns seven state-of-the-art workshops strategically located across France and Germany that cover a host of services, including maintenance needs that significantly enhance the value proposition of the business

Process

• DC Advisory (DC) acted as joint M&A advisor to both CDPQ and DWS (the consortium) on the acquisition of Ermewa
• DC also acted as a sole advisor to DWS in connection with its MidCo financing in support of the acquisition of its 50% share in Ermewa

Outcome

• In April 2021, the consortium reached an agreement with SNCF for the acquisition of Ermewa
• DC ran a challenging acquisition process in an extremely competitive context, which delivered a highly successful outcome for the consortium
• The acquisition reinforces DC’s experience in the rolling stock and tank container sectors, having previously advised on several M&A advisory and debt transactions across both the sector and Europe