Key transactions & industry newsWeekly Update 04/10/2026

What We Found Interesting This Week

Apr 8, 2026 – Apollo Global Management, Brookfield, and Sumitomo Corp finalized the $7.4B ($28.2B including debt) take-private acquisition of Air Lease Corporation, renaming the entity Sumisho Air Lease Corporation. (Morningstar)


Apollo Global Management, Brookfield, and Sumitomo Corp have completed the take-private of Air Lease Corporation at $7.4B in equity and $28.2B including debt, renaming the combined entity Sumisho Air Lease Corporation in a deal that ranks among the largest aviation finance transactions in recent memory. Air Lease was one of the few remaining large publicly traded aircraft lessors, and its removal from public markets reflects a growing conviction among alternative asset managers that aircraft leasing, with its long-duration contracted cash flows and hard asset collateral, is better suited to private ownership than to the quarterly earnings scrutiny of public markets. The Sumitomo branding is meaningful, signaling that this is not purely a financial play, as Sumitomo brings deep relationships across Asian aviation markets where fleet growth, particularly in Southeast Asia and India, remains among the strongest in the world. For Apollo and Brookfield, the deal adds a major scaled platform to their respective infrastructure and credit ecosystems, giving them direct origination of leasing paper rather than buying it secondhand in the market. The competitive dynamics in aircraft leasing are intense, with AerCap, SMBC Aviation Capital, and Air France Industries KLM Engineering already operating at enormous scale, meaning Sumisho will need to leverage its Japanese corporate relationships and sponsor balance sheets aggressively to grow share. At $28.2B all-in, this is a high-conviction bet that air travel demand stays structurally robust and that aircraft values hold, two assumptions that look reasonable today but carry real tail risk if a demand shock or OEM delivery crisis disrupts fleet economics.

Recent M&A Transactions

Metals & Mining

Apr 8, 2026 – Littlejohn Capital announced it has completed the sale of Maysteel Industries, a leading provider of custom enclosures and precision fabricated solutions, to Steele Solutions, a portfolio company of Revelar Capital. Maysteel Industries is a leading provider of mission critical metal enclosures and precision fabrications for data centers, essential infrastructure and renewable energy applications. (PRNewswire)

Apr 8, 2026 – American Ocean Minerals Corp and NASDAQ-listed Odyssey Marine Exploration announced a merger to create a $1B deep-sea critical minerals research and mining platform. (BusinessWire)

Transportation & Logistics

Apr 8, 2026 – Kriska Transportation Group has acquired Sharp Transportation Systems, a Canada-based carrier specializing in temperature-controlled freight and cross-border logistics.

Sharp Transportation, headquartered in Cambridge, Ontario, operates a fleet of about 29 trucks and drivers and focuses on hauling sensitive freight such as pharmaceuticals and refrigerated goods across Canada and the U.S. (FreightWaves)

Apr 7, 2026 – Evaaro, a portfolio company of MML Keystone, announced the acquisition of Keg Logistics and North Keg from its existing shareholders, including Seaport Capital. The combination with Evaaro’s existing keg pooling business, ekeg, creates a unified, multi-jurisdictional keg management & pooling platform operating across the UK & Ireland, the USA, Canada and the EU. (PRNewswire)

Apr 7, 2026 – Truckstop.com, announced that it has acquired Wize Load, a provider of heavy haul rate intelligence tools. The deal brings specialized pricing data into the Boise, Idaho-based freight technology company’s platform as it expands its offerings for loads that require significantly more planning than standard truckload shipments. (FreightWaves)

Building Products & Materials

Apr 8, 2026 – Concrete Partners Holding, LLC, a ready-mix concrete logistics and distribution platform strategically located in Oklahoma and Arkansas, and Haymaker Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, announced the successful completion of their previously announced $226M merger. (Fidelity)

Energy

Apr 8, 2026 – Antin Infrastructure Partners completed the acquisition of Sapphire Gas Solutions, a U.S.-based provider of CNG and LNG infrastructure, from funds managed by Apollo Global Management to support growing industrial and data center energy demand. (PGJ)

Apr 8, 2026 – Apollo Global Management, Brookfield, and Sumitomo Corp finalized the $7.4B ($28.2B including debt) take-private acquisition of Air Lease Corporation, renaming the entity Sumisho Air Lease Corporation. (Morningstar)

Others

Apr 9, 2026 – Alternative investment manager Ares Management has agreed to buy real-estate investment trust Whitestone REIT. The deal is slated to close in the third quarter. (WSJ)

Apr 6, 2026 – Neurocrine Biosciences agreed to buy Soleno Therapeutics for $2.9B, giving it the first approved treatment for a rare genetic disorder that causes relentless, life-threatening hunger. The acquisition centers on Soleno’s treatment for Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that affects roughly 10,000 people in the U.S. (WSJ)

Top News Stories

Metals & Mining

Vedanta Aluminium signs strategic MoU with downstream customers for Aluminium Park in Jharsuguda. Vedanta Aluminium, India’s largest producer of aluminum, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with two leading manufacturing companies, Singhal Steel & Power Pvt. Ltd and SCOT-AL Metcon Pvt. Ltd. for setting up their downstream aluminum manufacturing facilities within the upcoming Vedanta Aluminum Park in Jharsuguda, Odisha.

RUSAL to divert aluminum from China to Japan as premiums surge amid Gulf supply crunch. Russia-based RUSAL, a leading global aluminum producer, is planning to divert a part of its aluminum shipments originally intended for China to Japan and other Asian customer bases.

Venezuela approves mining law to encourage foreign investment. Venezuela’s ruling party-controlled National Assembly approved a mining law expected to open the sector to private and foreign investment, following loosened restrictions by the U.S. to spur outside capital in the struggling economy.

U.S. rejects tariff relief for Ford Motor amid aluminum supply disruptions. The U.S. government has rejected requests from Ford Motor Company and other automakers seeking relief from aluminum import tariffs, despite ongoing supply disruptions.

McEwen Copper seeks $4B to advance Los Azules. McEwen Copper Inc. is in talks with global lenders to secure about $4B in financing to develop its Los Azules project in Argentina, advancing one of the country’s largest undeveloped copper deposits.

White House taps Highland Copper in local supply push. The U.S. administration has named Highland Copper (TSX-V:HI) as a contributor to expanding domestic copper supply, highlighting the Canadian miner’s growing strategic relevance.

Transportation & Logistics

For $3B, ocean line expands fleet by 250,000 TEUs. Evergreen Marine has finalized an order for 11 24,000-TEU container ships, a $3B contract split between builders in China and South Korea.

Jaxport adds new direct China connection. CMA CGM and its partners in the Ocean Alliance have added a direct container service from China and Asia markets to the Port of Jacksonville, Fla.

OmniTRAX adds 3 Arkansas short lines to its roster. OmniTRAX Inc. has acquired three Arkansas short lines: the Dardanelle and Russellville Railroad, the Ouachita Railroad, and the Camden & Southern Railroad.

Iran tightens its grip on Hormuz despite cease-fire. Iran told mediators it would limit the number of ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz to around a dozen a day and charge tolls under the cease-fire struck by President Trump, showing Tehran plans to tighten its grip on the world’s most important energy-shipping lane.

Norfolk Southern awarded control of disputed eastern port rail line. The Surface Transportation Board has granted Norfolk Southern’s formal request to control the Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line, a terminal switching railroad that serves the Port of Virginia.

Rail-served export facility reaches completion at Milwaukee port. Port Milwaukee, The Delong Co. Inc. and other organizations recently marked the completion of a second phase expansion of an agricultural product export facility.

Energy

U.S. likely to extend Russian oil waiver to temper Iran war shock, sources say. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is likely to extend a waiver allowing countries to buy some sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum products, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

New Jersey ends de-facto nuclear power plant moratorium. New Jersey lifted a de-facto moratorium on new nuclear energy in the state, which ​is struggling with some of the fastest-rising power bills ‌in the U.S. as electricity demand outpaces the addition of new supplies.

QatarEnergy preparing for LNG production startup, sources say. QatarEnergy is ​preparing to restart liquefied natural gas (LNG) ‌production. QatarEnergy halted production of LNG ​and associated products due to military attacks ⁠on facilities in Ras Laffan and ​Mesaieed.

Libya announces new oil and gas discoveries with three major energy companies. Libya’s state-run National Oil Corporation ​announced three new oil and ‌gas discoveries with major energy companies from Italy, Spain and Algeria, the NOC said in separate statements.

Others

Inflation soared to 3.3% in March, driven by higher gasoline costs. Consumer prices soared in March, pushed higher by skyrocketing gasoline prices. The reading, the first major inflation report since the Iran war began, came in at its hottest level in two years.

Meta unveils first AI model from costly superintelligence team. Meta Platforms unveiled Muse Spark, the first artificial intelligence model from a costly team it assembled last year to catch up with rivals in the ‌AI race.

About RJM

RJM & Company is a specialized M&A and capital markets advisory investment bank. We provide boards and management teams of public and private companies with independent advice and expertise in a variety of sectors including road, rail and marine transportation, infrastructure, chemicals, energy, metals and mining, manufacturing, building materials, and other coverage areas of the industrial complex. RJM advises clients on all aspects of transactions including timing, structure, and pricing. RJM originates opportunities and helps negotiate and execute transactions already under evaluation.

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