KKR Sells Railcar Lessor Infinity Transportation to Ares in a $2.9 Billion Deal

One of America's largest railcar fleets is changing hands between two of the biggest names in alternative assets, in a deal that prices the business KKR spent a decade building at about $2.9 billion.

KKR and Ares Management announced a definitive agreement on Monday, October 19, 2026 under which KKR will sell Infinity Transportation to Ares Infrastructure Equity and Ares Insurance Solutions funds for an enterprise value of approximately $2.9 billion. Infinity is a full-service railcar and intermodal equipment lessor based in Atlanta, Georgia. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027.

A fleet of 50,000 railcars, built since 2004

Founded in 2004, Infinity owns and manages approximately 50,000 railcars leased to more than 350 unique lessees across the United States, Canada and Mexico. The company provides net and full-service leases and other structured financing for the equipment its customers use to move freight, and the announcement describes it as one of the largest railcar lessors in the United States. That scale is the asset Ares is paying for: a large, diversified fleet already under lease to hundreds of customers, run by what both sides describe as an experienced management team led by President and CEO Jeff Edelman.

A decade under KKR, through Global Atlantic

KKR's wholly owned subsidiary, Global Atlantic, has invested in Infinity since 2016. Since 2021, the company, with KKR's support, established its standalone operating platform and expanded its fleet, increasing book value by 150% and scaling the business into one of the largest railcar lessors in the United States. Daniel Pietrzak, Partner and Head of ABF at KKR, called Infinity a great example of KKR's ability to scale ABF platforms into industry leaders, and said the firm is proud of what it built over the past decade and confident Ares will be an exceptional partner. Edelman credited KKR's partnership with enabling the company to invest in its team and expand its fleet.

Why Ares wants railcars now

Ares said it intends to use its infrastructure investing capabilities and scaled capital to support Infinity's management team, continued fleet growth and customer relationships across North America, and to pursue new acquisition opportunities. Mike Roth, Partner in Ares Infrastructure Equity, and Anup Agarwal, Head and Chief Investment Officer of Ares Insurance Solutions, said transportation and logistics assets continue benefiting from the reshoring of manufacturing, increased investment in domestic industrial capacity and a growing need for more resilient supply chains, and called Infinity's high-quality, long-lived assets well suited for long-term investment. The structure of the buyer tells the same story: the purchasing funds sit in Ares' infrastructure equity and insurance solutions arms, the parts of the firm built to hold long-lived assets against long-term capital. Ares reported over $671 billion of assets under management as of June 30, 2026.

What the announcement does not say, and what happens next

The release does not disclose Infinity's revenue, earnings or debt, how the $2.9 billion enterprise value splits between equity and assumed obligations, or how Ares' funds will finance the purchase, so the return KKR and Global Atlantic earned over a decade cannot be calculated from what was published on Monday. Macquarie Capital is serving as financial advisor and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP as legal counsel to KKR, while Citi is serving as financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis LLP as legal counsel to Ares. Until the expected first-quarter 2027 close, the tests are procedural rather than strategic: whether the customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals clear on schedule, and whether either firm discloses more on the economics before then. Reuters independently reported the same $2.9 billion sale, the 50,000-railcar fleet and the first-quarter 2027 closing expectation on Monday.