November 10, 2020

Leading Fleet Repair & Maintenance Provider Expands Mobile Service Offering

Indianapolis, IN and Kansas City, MO (11/10/2020) – Dickinson Fleet Services (“Dickinson” or “DFS”), along with majority shareholder Ridgemont Equity Partners, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Interstate Truck Center (“Interstate” or “ITC”) of Kansas City, MO, forming a unique partnership which will leverage the mobile expertise and capabilities of both companies. Interstate will continue to operate under its founder-led management team and be supported by the DFS platform. This new partnership will cement the combined business as the largest mobile maintenance provider in North America and provide fleets with an increased breadth of services across both scheduled and unscheduled fleet maintenance. The combined entity has mobile power, mobile trailer, and mobile emergency service capabilities across an enhanced footprint, with a combined fleet of 700+ mobile repair units. The partnership will also position DFS and ITC to better capitalize on the shift to mobile maintenance demanded by the fleet maintenance industry today.

“We are very excited to partner with the Interstate team,” said Ted Coltrain, Executive Officer at DFS. “ITC has built a strong reputation for providing exceptional and timely emergency mobile repair services nationwide. This strong track record will serve as a solid base to accelerate future growth for both DFS and ITC by expanding our market presence and service offering for new and existing customers.”

“The combined service offering of DFS and ITC is a win for us and for our customers. We can now provide a self-performing, full-service solution for our customers across both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, which is truly unique in the industry today,” added Mike Dickinson, Executive Officer at DFS.

“Partnering with Dickinson provides us with a unique opportunity to more effectively deliver on our promise to customers of always having knowledgeable, professional technicians available to keep our customers’ fleets moving. Together, we will deliver industry-changing commitments to reduce downtime for our customers. The partnership of ITC and DFS is a natural fit and will create tremendous growth opportunities for all involved,” said Scott Higgs, President of Interstate Truck Center.

As companies grapple with increasing supply chain complexity, driver shortages, and the impacts of e-commerce, the mobile emergency services offered by DFS and ITC will provide unparalleled value to the customers of both companies by fulfilling the promise to ensure that customers will never have to miss a delivery as a result of an emergency breakdown event. Additionally, the full spectrum of mobile offerings will continue to drive incremental value for North American fleets by minimizing downtime and reducing inefficiencies in the repair cycle.

ITC marks Dickinson’s tenth acquisition since 2017. DFS continues to pursue additional acquisition targets across North America. Dickinson was supported in the formation of this partnership by Ice Miller LLP for legal matters and by KSM Business Services, Inc. for financial matters.

About Dickinson Fleet Services

Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, Dickinson Fleet Services has grown into one of the largest independent fleet maintenance and management companies in the country. DFS is the leading provider of on-site mobile maintenance and repair services nationwide, offering mobile on-site maintenance and repair services for light, medium and heavy duty trucks and trailers with over 300 mobile units operating in 40 states. DFS services fleet customers with 15 company-owned maintenance facilities each offering select services from accident repair, paint, refurbishment and dedicated technician services, combined with an in-house CARES CALL center providing 24/7 repair assistance. DFS has made significant investments in training and technology, including WebWrench® (maintenance tracking and scheduling through proprietary technology) and TRAIT® (real-time reporting and dynamic preventative maintenance inspections processed through a proprietary field service application), and is the only fleet services company in the nation to provide both fleet maintenance and management to its customers nationwide.

About Ridgemont Equity Partners

Ridgemont Equity Partners is a Charlotte-based middle market buyout and growth equity investor. Since 1993, the principals of Ridgemont have invested approximately $4.4 billion. The firm focuses on equity investments up to $250 million in industries in which it has deep expertise, including business and industrial services, energy, healthcare, and technology and telecommunications.

HONG KONG, November 10, 2020 – Blackstone (NYSE: BX) today announced the acquisition of a majority stake in the Greater Bay Area’s largest urban logistics park for US$1.1 billion from R&F Group, expanding Blackstone’s China logistics portfolio by approximately one-third. Blackstone Real Estate’s opportunistic funds will acquire a 70% stake in the 1.2 million-square-meter logistics park located in Guangzhou, China.

Justin Wai, a Blackstone Real Estate Managing Director based in Hong Kong, said: “Logistics remains among our highest conviction global investment themes and we continue to see strong momentum driven by e-commerce trends. This transaction represents a continuation of Blackstone’s strategy to acquire high quality logistics located in tier-one distribution hubs with ongoing tenant demand. The investment also complements our existing Chinese logistics portfolio geographically, which will total 53 million square feet and give us a presence in 23 cities once the acquisition is complete.”

Cliff Chen, a Blackstone Real Estate Managing Director based in Shanghai, said: “The Greater Bay Area is rapidly emerging as a financial, technology and transportation hub and one of China’s biggest logistics markets. Our scale, expertise in logistics, and the support of dedicated teams on the ground enable us to drive our plans for the park’s future growth including constructing additional cold storage facilities and institutional-quality warehouses to cater to rising demand.”

The Greater Bay Area is a fast-growing metropolitan area comprising 11 cities including Shenzhen, Macau, and Hong Kong. The logistics park is located 15km from Guangzhou International Airport and houses blue-chip tenants across sectors such as third-party logistics (SF Express, YTO Express), e-commerce (Tmall, JD.com), pharmaceuticals (Sinopharm, CR Pharma), and telecommunications (China Mobile, China Telecom).

Blackstone Real Estate operates around the globe and has approximately US$174 billion in investor capital under management. Since 2010, Blackstone has acquired more than 1 billion square feet of logistics globally in more than 200 distinct transactions. In 2019, it announced the largest-ever private real estate transaction globally with the acquisition of U.S. logistics assets from GLP.

About Blackstone Real Estate
Blackstone is a global leader in real estate investing. Blackstone’s real estate business was founded in 1991 and has $174 billion of investor capital under management. Blackstone is one of the largest property owners in the world, owning and operating assets across every major geography and sector, including logistics, multifamily and single family housing, office, hospitality and retail. Our opportunistic funds seek to acquire undermanaged, well-located assets across the world. Blackstone’s Core+ strategy invests in substantially stabilized real estate globally through regional open-ended funds focused on high-quality assets and Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. (BREIT), a non-listed REIT that invests in U.S. income-generating assets. Blackstone Real Estate also operates one of the leading global real estate debt businesses, providing comprehensive financing solutions across the capital structure and risk spectrum, including management of Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE: BXMT).

Media Contact:
Ellen Bogard
Ellen.Bogard@Blackstone.com
Tel: +852 3651 7737

Helsinki based Venture Capital firm Innovestor acts as lead investor in Shipit Oy Ab’s funding round. The total size of the round was EUR 800k. In addition to the investment made from our second fund, we were joined by institutional and private investors.

With the rapid growth of e-commerce over the past decade, parcel shipping volumes have increased steadily. This trend has only strengthened during the current covid-19 pandemic. Consumer behavior has in many regards changed for good, driving demand for more effective logistics solutions.

Shipit is a fast-growing Finnish technology company, which has developed a fully automated service platform for parcel and pallet shipment management, targeted particularly for e-commerce stores and SMBs. The company’s story began when Co-founder & CEO Lari Pihjalapuro noticed that Finnish SMB’s struggled to find cost effective ways for shipping internationally, thus limiting their potential for doing international business. How could a Finnish company compete, when shipping costs could easily be the same as the product itself? He set out to change this.

For the customer, Shipit provides value by offering more affordable parcel shipping rates, decreasing the need for own in house logistics team and making everything accessible via a single easy to use platform.

“The company is riding a strong wave with all forms commerce moving online. The team has been capital efficient in ramping-up volumes, and can demonstrate considerable traction on the Finnish market. We are excited to join the ride for the next growth phase”, says Innovestor’s Wilhelm Lindholm.

The Finnish parcel market is closing in on almost 90 million in annual shipping volume, and estimated at EUR 700 million in value in 2018. In comparison, the Global Parcel Market is valued at almost USD 380 billion in 2018, up from USD 310 billion in 2016.

As the industry has grown, it has also grabbed the attention of VC investors, who have been active in the sector. Some of the recent examples include: Shippo (USA), backed by Union Square Ventures and Bessemer; PackLink (Spain), backed by Accel and Eight Roads Ventures; Parcel2Go (UK), buy-out by Mayfair Equity Partners.

Shipit has grown strongly since its founding in 2016 and is now the market leader within its category in Finland. With revenue growth up 120% in 2019, and operating cashflow positive, the company currently ships c. 50,000 parcels each month among 4,000 registered customers.

“This investment makes it possible for us to speed up our product development, and even more aggressively aim for growth by bringing further liquidity to our internationalization efforts. All while proactively maintaining our outstanding customer service ensuring it scales as we grow. This is an exciting time for us!” commented Shipit’s Co-founder & CEO Lari Pihjalapuro.

Contact Information:

Lari Pihjalapuro, CEO, Shipit

lari.pihlajapuro@shipit.fi

+ 358 400 595 188

Wilhelm Lindholm, Managing Partner, Innovestor Ltd

wilhelm.lindholm@innovestor.fi

+358 405 811 051

Shipit joins our portfolio, which is one of the largest private venture backed portfolios in the Nordics, through the investment from Innovestor Growth Fund II.

Innovestor is a Nordic early-stage venture capital investor, who also offers direct co-investment syndication opportunities and builds growth programs.

Speed Group has been entrusted by an existing customer to expand operations in a business including traditional storage services as well as production-focused assembly and configuration services. The four-year contract is expected to generate additional sales of approximately SEK 100m per year and will commence in 2021.

“We are delighted to win new contracts in these times and to be given the opportunity to substantially increase our business with one of our most important customers. This is a result of long-term development efforts, in which our team proactively presented solutions that provide the customer with more efficient logistics,” says Mats Johnson, CEO of Speed Group.

“I am proud of the management and the company’s employees who have successfully worked to turn around the profitability trend for the company in the past year. The new contract from this existing customer is a confirmation that Speed Group supplies cost-efficient services with high quality and customer satisfaction. The company is now further solidifying its position as a leading third-party logistics player in the Nordic market,” says Christian Johansson Gebauer, Chairman of the Speed Group Board and Head of Business Area Construction & Services at Ratos.

Speed Group offers flexible solutions in logistics, staffing, recruitment and training. The company is one of the Nordic region’s leading third-party logistics (3PL) providers, with effective automation solutions and a total of just over 150,000 square metres of warehouse space in Borås, Gothenburg and Stockholm. At 30 June, rolling 12-month sales for Speed amounted to SEK 717m and the EBITA margin was 6%.

For further information, please contact:
Christian Johansson Gebauer, Head of Business Area Construction & Services, Ratos, +46 8 700 17 00
Helene Gustafsson, Head of IR and Press, Ratos, +46 8 700 17 98, helene.gustafsson@ratos.se

About Ratos:
Ratos is a business group consisting of 12 companies divided into three business areas: Construction & Services, Consumer & Technology and Industry. In total, the companies have SEK 38 billion in sales and EBITA of SEK 1.8 billion. Our business concept is to develop mid-sized companies headquartered in the Nordics that are or can become market leaders. We enable independent mid-sized companies to excel by being part of something larger. People, leadership, culture and values are key focus areas for Ratos. Everything we do is based on Ratos’s core values: Simplicity, Speed in Execution and It’s All About People.

DIF Capital Partners (“DIF”), through its DIF Core Infrastructure Fund I (“CIF I”), and French shipping giant CMA CGM, are pleased to announce that they have signed a sale and purchase agreement with HMM for the acquisition of a 50% less one share stake in the TTIA Container Terminal in Algeciras, which is located on the Spanish side of the Strait of Gibraltar. TTIA is currently 100% owned by HMM, the largest South Korean shipping line.

TTIA is a modern semi-automatic container terminal, strategically located in the bay of Algeciras, at the Strait of Gibraltar directly on the main shipping routes for containerized maritime traffic to Asia, Europe, the Mediterranean, North and West Africa as well as North and South America. Such a strategic location has allowed the terminal to maintain strong volumes despite the Covid-19 crisis. TTIA operates under a concession provided by the Port of Algeciras Bay Authority which runs until 2043.

TTIA will benefit from long-term support from both HMM and CMA CGM, who as major shipping companies and port operators, have decided to join forces to support and develop this strategic terminal.

Thomas Vieillescazes, partner of DIF, says: “We are delighted to initiate this partnership with CMA CGM, investing alongside world-leading shipping companies and port operators. TTIA is a modern and well-managed terminal, strategically located at the Strait of Gibraltar, with partners providing long-term volume support, making this an attractive investment for CIF I”.

The completion of the acquisition remains subject to certain conditions precedent, including antitrust and Algeciras Port Authority consents.

About DIF Capital Partners

DIF Capital Partners is a leading global independent infrastructure fund manager, with €7.5 billion of assets under management across nine closed-end infrastructure funds and several co-investment vehicles. DIF Capital Partners invests in greenfield and operational infrastructure assets located primarily in Europe, the Americas and Australasia through two complementary strategies:

• DIF CIF funds target equity investments in small to mid-sized infrastructure assets in the telecom, energy and transportation sectors.
• DIF Infrastructure funds target equity investments in public-private partnerships (PPP/PFI/P3), concessions, utilities and renewable energy projects with long-term contracted or regulated income streams.

DIF has a team of over 145 professionals, based in nine offices located in Amsterdam (Schiphol), Frankfurt, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Paris, Santiago, Sydney and Toronto. Please visit www.dif.eu for further information.

Contact: Thijs Verburg, IR & BD; t.verburg@dif.eu.