Platinum Equity announced it provided a second-lien term loan to Railway Equipment Leasing and Maintenance Inc. (RELAM) to refinance existing indebtedness and support future growth of the business.
RELAM is a well-known provider of specialty rental equipment for recurring, regulatory-driven maintenance-of-way (MOW) work on railroads, serving the industry's largest operators and contracted service providers.
"We are pleased to have provided RELAM a financing solution with speed and certainty in a market that remains complex for middle-market borrowers," said Platinum Equity Co-President Louis Samson. "Platinum has deep domain expertise in equipment rental and we have a lot of experience helping companies in that space grow and expand their businesses. We believe our sector knowledge combined with our operations-intensive model puts us in a unique position to underwrite this type of credit investment."
In July 2020, affiliates of Paceline Equity Partners, LLC combined two existing MOW railroad equipment rental businesses to create RELAM, now one of the most important MOW rental companies in North America. In January 2023, the company bolstered its rental offering through the acquisition of Wiskerchen Rental & Leasing, a company that manufactures, services, and rents out hi-rail trucks and related equipment. The company's rental solutions offer customers preferential access to different types of equipment with economic and operational advantages to otherwise owning or financing the equipment. RELAM occupies a unique position in the industry by providing value to equipment manufacturers, as well as railroad operators and maintenance contractors.
The RELAM financing is led by Platinum Equity's dedicated credit team, which seeks opportunities to provide debt capital to companies for a variety of uses, including acquisitions, refinancings and recapitalizations.
"We strive to forge meaningful partnerships with borrowers and their sponsors where we can add material value to the company's strategic plans," said Platinum Equity Managing Director and Global Head of Credit Michael Fabiano. "RELAM is a great fit with a resilient financial profile, an experienced and capable management team, and a business model we know very well. We are excited to partner with Paceline to support the next stage of RELAM's growth."
Platinum's credit team targets companies that generally have $15 million to $75 million of EBITDA and are primarily based in North America.
"Our credit team is actively looking for more opportunities to put our financial and operational expertise to work," said Fabiano.
Houlihan Lokey acted as the exclusive placement agent to RELAM