23 October 2020, Warsaw – Abris CEE Mid-Market II LP fund, managed by Abris Capital Partners, the leading private equity investor in Central Europe, has signed an agreement to sell its stake in Cargounit, the largest independent locomotive lessor in Poland, to Three Seas Initiative Investment Fund (advised by Amber Infrastructure Group).
During Abris’ investment, the company has grown strongly, increasing revenues and profits more than threefold. Between 2016 and 2018, Abris helped drive this expansion through completing a staged acquisition of a large pool of locomotives, followed by targeted purchases of smaller fleets in subsequent years. During 2018-2020 the Company focused on investing in new fleet, including top-of-the-range locomotives, and completed a landmark, EU co-funded order for five brand-new multisystem locomotives specified for intermodal transportation.
Wojciech Łukawski, Partner of Abris Capital Partners, commented:
“It has been a pleasure to partner with Jacek Szczegodziński, Arkadiusz Ignasiak and Piotr Ignasiak – the founders of Cargounit – and the company’s management over the past four-and-a-half years. The progress that the company made was spectacular and we are proud to have been the part of that journey.”
Amber Infrastructure is a specialist international investment manager, focused on investment origination, asset management and fund management. Amber’s core business focuses on sourcing, developing, advising, investing in and managing infrastructure assets across the public, transport, energy, digital and demographic infrastructure sectors that support the lives of people, homes and businesses internationally.
3SIIF is a dedicated commercial fund targeting infrastructure investments in Central and Eastern Europe. The Fund will invest in energy, transport and digital infrastructure in European Union CEE member states which border the Baltic, Adriatic and Black Seas where the demand for long-term commercial investment into national infrastructure is among the highest in the EU.
Joe Philipsz, Senior Investment Director at Amber, said:
“We are delighted to announce the signing of Cargounit. Cargounit’s existing asset base and customer relationships offer a strong platform for expansion both in Poland and surrounding countries. Increasing the interconnectivity of the Three Seas countries, reducing transportation costs and enhancing the infrastructure are all core objectives of the Fund”.
