During September 2022, Anchorage Capital Partners Fund III announced the 100% sale of RailFirst Asset Management to investment firms DIF Capital Partners and Amber Infrastructure for a media reported $425 million, delivering a media reported ~4.0x Multiple of Invested Capital to Anchorage Fund III investors including VPESO. VPESO has an additional exposure to this exit through its investment in VPEG3, which has commitments to Anchorage Fund III, and will gain an additional benefit once these proceeds are distributed to VPEG3’s investors.
Anchorage Fund III acquired RailFirst Asset Management in December 2019, which at the time had a dominant market position, however was an underperforming non-core Australian asset owned by a large American group. Under Anchorage III’s ownership the Company was repositioned to focus on Australia’s growing intermodal sector, made material investment in implementing new systems and processes which delivered strong sustainable growth.
Rail First Chairman, Beau Dixon, said “Rail First is an excellent example of Anchorage management identifying a complex special situation opportunity of an underperforming non-core asset, implementing a highly successful change program, repositioning Rail First’s strategic direction, bringing in world-class management, and fixing the bottom line.”
The sale of RailFirst Asset Management completed in early October 2022, delivered an exceptionally strong return for Anchorage Capital Fund III, including VPESO across Anchorage III’s 2.7-year hold period. VPESO’s share of the sale proceeds was received by VPESO during October 2022.
