Interpool to be acquired

Interpool to be acquired Interpool, the container and chassis leasing company, said it had entered into an agreement to be acquired by private equity funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group.
   Princeton, N.J.-based Interpool said stockholders would receive $27.10 in cash for each share of Interpool common stock that they hold. The total transaction value, including assumed debt, is about $2.4 billion.
   Interpool was founded in 1968 and had said in its annual report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that at the end of 2006 it had a fleet of 238,000 chassis, the largest in the world. It also had a container fleet of 756,000 TEU.
   The company had sold some assets last year and had indicated to shareholders that it was contemplating a buyout from another group in a March 2007 filing with the SEC.
   An Interpool container leasing subsidiary in March 2006 sold 273,3000 standard dry marine containers to an investor group based in Switzerland. In October 2006 it sold its half-interest in a company called Container Applications for $77.5 million.
   On Jan. 16, the company said it received a letter from Martin Tuchman, its chairman and chief executive officer, supported by other significant stockholders and an investment fund affiliated with Fortis Merchant Banking, proposing an acquisition of all the company’s stock for $24.
   Tuchman said he was “extremely pleased” with the deal announced last week that will net shareholders even more money.
   The deal proposed by Fortress and negotiated by a special committee of outside investors, “captures the value we have built in Interpool over many years, and along with the rest of our Board I am supportive of this transaction,” Tuchman said.