TEXTAINER Group, the New York-listed and Bermuda-based lessor of containers, has added 156,000 teu to its managed fleet through a deal with Capital Intermodal and Xines. The acquisition has pushed Textainer’s total fleet to 2.3m teu, an increase of 15% since April, when the rule of thumb in most sectors is contraction instead of expansion. Textainer chief executive John Maccarone said the company has $350m in available liquidity, with which it would target even more growth in the second half of this year. Textainer in April announced the acquisition of Amphibious Container Leasing’s 150,000 teu fleet, which contained a large number of specialist containers. The Capital Intermodal deal follows Capital group’s 2007 handing over of the management of Capital Lease’s 510,000 teu fleet to Textainer. Capital Intermodal chairman Ian Karan said in a statement that he remains pleased with that decision, and the latest deal involving 156,000 teu is a logical progression. “In today’s difficult economic environment, it seemed obvious to me that a company of the scale and depth of Textainer should guide Capital Intermodal going forward,” Mr Karan said. Capital, which serves 100 operators and shipping lines and has an investment of $500m in owned and managed containers, will continue to be an investor in containers and will operate certain types of equipment such as tank containers for its own account. Mr Maccarone added: “We are proud to have entered into our second transaction with Ian Karan, a legend in container leasing and trading and noted philanthropist. “We expect this transaction to be immediately accretive to earnings and further reduce our overhead cost per container. In addition, the fleet has an average age of only two years and, as a result, we anticipate it will generate attractive management fees until at least 2019. “The fleet also includes refrigerated containers, an area of emphasis for Textainer, as well as several other types of special containers which complement our strategic growth initiatives.”