Nov 15, 2007 9:03 AM

General Finance Corp (GFN) and Royal Wolf Trading Australia Pty Ltd (RWA), an 86.2% owned subsidiary and lessor of storage containers in Australia, have signed an agreement to acquire the dry and refrigerated container assets of GE SeaCo Australia Pty Ltd for $20.0 million Australian (US $18.4 million).

With this purchase, RWA will add more than 6,300 containers, of which 4,600 units are leased with 20-30 national accounts serving such industries as road and rail, as well as storage and logistics.

GE SeaCo is exiting the domestic container leasing market in Australia after 25 years through this transaction and the simultaneous sale of its tank container business. Its domestic container business is believed to be the third-largest in Australia, according to GE SeaCo.

Some GE SeaCo employees are expected to join Royal Wolf, which will also assume several depot and agency contracts, including a third-party sales agreement for intermodal containers from the GE SeaCo international fleet. The transaction will be financed by about A$12 million of bank financing and A$8 million of equity from GFN and Bison Capital Australia LP, which owns the remaining 13.8% interest in Royal Wolf.