Australia's Brambles offloads crates business to ADIA, Triton

Up to $1.95 billion of the proceeds will be returned to investors through a $300 million cash payout and a $1.65 billion share buyback. The company’s stock spiked 8% on February 25 in response to the announcement, reaching a two-year high of A$12.54. It then fell back to close at A$11.89.

The business, known as IFCO RPC, primarily serves large grocery retailers in Europe, North America, South America, and Asia. It claims to be the leading global supplier of RPCs with 290 million crates in circulation that help customers in more than 50 countries complete 1.4 billion shipments a year. It can produce 50 million new crates per year and has over 90 wash centers that clean existing inventory for reuse.

Brambles said last August that it would separate the RPC unit and then ran a dual-track process with a view to realizing a demerger or sale. The company noted in a statement that the deal would allow it to focus on strategic priorities in core markets while also reviewing additional opportunities in emerging markets.

This is the second divestment to private equity in just over a year. It follows the sale of CHEP Recycled, which supplies recycled pallets to customers in North America, to US mid-market GP Grey Mountain Partners for $115 million. An earlier divestment of Brambles Industrial Services – it was acquired by KKR in 2006 and combined with Cleanaway Australia to form Bis Industries – ended up in the hands of creditors at the end of 2017 following a debt-for-equity restructuring.

IFCO RPC accounted for approximately 20% of Brambles’ overall revenue in the 2018 financial year, with sales reaching $1.1 billion, up from $970.8 million in 2017. Europe was responsible for 71.7% of the total. Over the same period, underlying profit rose from $117.6 million to $136.5 million.

Triton has been in operation for more than 20 years and has raised EUR14 billion since inception. The firm is currently deploying Triton V, which closed at EUR5 billion in 2018. It primarily concentrates on industrials, business services, and consumer and health assets in Europe.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Australasia
• Europe
• Buyouts
• Industrials
• Support services
• Australia
• Logistics