Railpool Group has a new owner. Funds advised by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. acquired all the shares in Railpool GmbH and Railpool Holding GmbH & Co. KG (referred to jointly as “Railpool”) from HSH Nordbank AG and KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH on 9 May. The purchase price was not disclosed.

A team from CMS Hasche Sigle led by Hamburg-based partners Dr Ludwig Linder and Dr Henrik Drinkuth advised HSH Nordbank and KfW IPEX-Bank on all aspects of the sales process relating to the Railpool Group. The firm has provided support to both banks on several occasions in recent years in relation to transactions and financing.

Railpool is a fast-growing company in the railway sector which has been leasing rail vehicles to private and public railway companies and also providing asset management and other services across Europe since 2008. The previous shareholders, HSH Nordbank AG and KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH (each owning 50%), will continue to provide their services to Railpool as lenders.

Located in Kiel and Hamburg, HSH Nordbank employs around 2,800 employees worldwide and concentrates primarily on business with corporate customers, real estate clients, wealth management clients and savings banks in northern Germany. At international level, its focus is on corporate customers in the shipping and energy & infrastructure industries. Its consolidated balance sheet total was EUR 109 billion as at 31 December 2013.

KfW IPEX-Bank of Frankfurt am Main provides medium and long-term financing within the KfW Banking Group for the purposes of supporting exporters in key industrial sectors, developing the economic and social infrastructure and enabling environmental and climate-protection projects.

Oaktree is a US investment company which operates on a global scale and currently has assets under management totalling USD 86 billion. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the company employs around 800 people in 16 offices around the world.