Barings, one of the world’s leading investment management firms, and Partners Group, a leading global private markets firm acting on behalf of its clients, announce today the recapitalization of Milestone Equipment Holdings (“Milestone” or “the Company”), one of the largest providers of transportation equipment and supply chain solutions in the US.
Barings led the recapitalization of Milestone, raising more than USD 1.0 billion in commitments from institutional investors in a transaction that valued Milestone in excess of USD 1.4 billion. As part of the transaction, Partners Group acquired a significant direct ownership stake in Milestone and joined the Company’s board of directors alongside Barings.
Milestone operates a fleet of more than 95,000 owned and managed trailers, chassis, and containers across an integrated network of more than 70 locations near major logistics hubs. The Company provides equipment and logistics solutions to its customers under term lease and rental contracts and is one of the largest lessors of critical transportation equipment to US parcel carriers. Milestone has enjoyed significant tailwinds from the growth of e-commerce, a key transformative trend that Barings and Partners Group have both been following in their thematic research. Barings, Partners Group, and Milestone management will work on a transformational value creation plan, which will focus on growing the trailer, chassis, and container segments by expanding the Company’s domestic network, executing on M&A, and pursuing adjacent market opportunities.
Tom Juterbock, Managing Director, Barings Private Equity / Real Assets, comments: “We are thrilled to complete the equity recapitalization of Milestone, which will help enable the Company to achieve its long-term growth objectives. We look forward to working with Partners Group to continue providing Milestone with the resources to excel over the coming years.”
Don Clayton, Chief Executive Officer, Milestone, states: “Our team has worked tirelessly to serve our customers and grow rapidly in our target market segments, while modernizing our operations and systems to create a highly scalable platform. We are excited by the opportunity to build on this progress with the continued partnership of Barings and the addition of Partners Group. We remain highly committed to delivering the best customer experience in the industry, while providing every Milestone team member the tools they need to grow and prosper.”
Ed Diffendal, Managing Director, Private Infrastructure, Partners Group, states: “Milestone is an established infrastructure business that provides exposure to e-commerce, a transformative trend that continues to gather pace as economies digitize. Based on its scale, service, and fleet quality, we have conviction in Milestone‘s ability to capture a growing share of the transportation equipment market. Our value creation plan will further develop Milestone‘s mobile warehouse offering, as well as build out its network into under-served geographies across the US. We are looking forward to partnering with Milestone‘s very experienced management team and our partner Barings on these initiatives.”
