International Public Partnerships (INPP) has committed up to €46m to support a new regional passenger rail concession awarded to BeNEX, its wholly owned German rail operations and rolling stock business.
The Regionalverkehr Mainfranken concession will serve parts of Bavaria and Hesse and will be operated through BeNEX’s established agilis platform in southern Germany. Operations are scheduled to begin in December 2030 and the concession will run for up to 15 years.
The project includes the procurement of as many as 56 new electric passenger trains. Once the new concession and BeNEX’s other recent awards are fully operational, the business is expected to provide 74 million train kilometres of passenger services across 14 of Germany’s 16 federal states.
INPP said the investment would be made in stages over the next four years, with most of the capital required towards the end of the period. It will be funded from surplus operational cash flows and proceeds generated by the sale of mature investments.
The concession is expected to generate a nominal internal rate of return in the low teens, which INPP says is higher than the return implied by buying back its own shares. Revenues will be predominantly availability-based, limiting the company’s exposure to passenger demand.
Once the commitment has been fully invested, BeNEX would account for approximately 5.5% of INPP’s net asset value, based on the portfolio at 31 December 2025.
INPP first invested in BeNEX in 2007 and took full ownership in 2019. The platform has expanded significantly under its ownership, with the number of train kilometres operated across Germany increasing more than fourfold. In October 2024, BeNEX acquired Abellio’s German rail operations, supported by a further €18m investment from INPP.
The latest award reinforces BeNEX’s position as one of Germany’s three largest regional rail operators and demonstrates the proprietary investment opportunities available within INPP’s existing portfolio. The use of entirely new electric trains will also support the decarbonisation of regional transport in Germany.
INPP has realised more than £385m from asset sales since June 2023, equivalent to approximately 14% of its portfolio, with each disposal completed at or above its most recently published valuation. Over the same period, it has invested or committed around £480m at a combined financial-close internal rate of return of more than 11%, compared with the portfolio’s 9.1% weighted-average discount rate at the end of 2025.
Chair Sarah Whitney described the award as a natural extension of the BeNEX platform and said it would provide an essential regional passenger service connecting communities across Bavaria and Hesse.
Matthew Read, senior analyst at QuotedData, said “BeNEX is neither an unfamiliar business nor a speculative move into a new market. INPP has owned it for many years, demonstrating both its ability to grow the platform and its understanding of the operational risks. With a low-teens IRR, predominantly availability-based revenues and limited demand risk, the investment looks sensible, particularly given the staggered funding requirement. This should allow INPP to fund it through disposals of mature assets. That looks achievable: over the past three years, INPP has realised around £385m of investments, all at or above carrying value.”
