TAL under new ownership

TMC has been acquired from Transamerica Finance Corporation, a subsidiary of Dutch insurer Aegon NV, by TAL International Group, a company controlled by The Jordan Company, a New York-based private equity firm. Other investors in TAL International include UK-based private equity firm Klesch & Co and TMC's senior management team. Gary Klesch, chairman of Klesch & Company, has been appointed chairman of the new container operating comnpany, TAL International Container Corporation.

A statement from the new company said the existing TMC management team, headed by Brian Sondey as president and CEO, will remain in day-to-day control of the company and no major changes are anticipated in its approach to business.

The move follows a long period of uncertainty for TMC, which was inherited by Aegon when it bought Transamerica Corporation in 1999. Aegon made no secret of its desire to exit the container operating lease business and although funds were made available for investment in new equipment, they were clearly limited and the TMC fleet size has remained static at around 1 mill TEU.

All that should now change, however. According to Sondey, the investors in TAL International have agreed "to support our plan to invest US$1 bill in the container fleet over the next several years to allow us to get back to a growth situation appropriate to a company of our size."

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