Textainer expands container fleet

Textainer expands container fleet    Textainer Group Holdings said it will purchase the rights to manage the Capital Intermodal and Xines container fleets of 156,000 TEUs, effective July 1.
   Combined with a deal in April to manage 300,000 TEUs for Amficon, Textainer now operates a fleet of about 2.3 million TEUs, which it said makes it the world’s largest intermodal container lessor based on fleet size.
   “We have once again drawn upon our considerable financial flexibility to further enhance the company’s leading position and cost effectively increase its earnings power in a low-risk manner,” said John Maccarone, president and chief executive officer of Textainer. “We expect this transaction to be immediately accretive to earnings and further reduce our overhead cost per container. In addition, the fleet has an average age of only two years and, as a result, we anticipate it will generate attractive management fees until at least 2019. The fleet also includes refrigerated containers, an area of emphasis for Textainer, as well as several other types of special containers which complement our strategic growth initiatives.
   “We are pleased to continue to take advantage of this challenging economic environment and expand the company in a disciplined manner that meets our strict growth and return criteria,” he said. “We have maintained our significant financial strength, which includes over $350 million in liquidity. Accordingly, we remain well positioned to continue to seek additional favorable opportunities in acquisitions, purchase-leasebacks and long-term lease transactions, which we believe may arise in the second half of 2009.”