MML Capital, through its two strategies—Partnership (MidCap) and Keystone (Infrastructure Private Equity)—together with Metric Capital Partners, announce the successful completion of a major refinancing for GPS Group, a global leader in circular-economy logistics solutions.
MML Capital and Metric Capital Partners have supported GPS since 2022 as the company further scaled its unique distributed infrastructure model and expand its global platform with strengthened international reach.
A High-Growth Circular-Economy Champion
GPS specialises in the pooling of reusable metal intermediary bulk containers (“IBCs”) used to store and transport a variety of products, including but not limited to rubber, chemicals, auto parts and food products. Under the leadership of Founder & Chairman Benoît Arnaud and CEO Jean-François Baus, the Group has delivered strong organic growth over the years, with EBITDA doubling and profitability strongly increasing.
Over the past three years, GPS’s longstanding banking pool—led by Crédit Agricole and including Arkéa, CIC, Banque Postale, BNP Paribas, Caisse d’Épargne, and Société Générale—has helped finance the acquisition of more than 500,000 metal IBCs to support the company’s expanding operations globally.
Thanks to its 2.5million containers in circulation and a network of 5,000 collection and delivery points worldwide, GPS continues to gain market share thanks to its top-tier service quality and the resilience of its model, even in periods of global trade volatility.
The Group has also strengthened its senior leadership team to support this accelerated growth trajectory, including the recent appointments of Julien Laran as Deputy CEO in 2025 and of Mathieu René as CFO in 2024.
A Strategic Refinancing to Support the Next Phase of Growth
In 2025, Lazard advised GPS on an infrastructure style refinancing designed to align the company’s capital structure with its scale and long-term investment needs.
The new €300 million financing package is provided primarily by Apterra and PGIM, two strong and recognized infrastructure lenders, supplemented by historical lender Arkéa. This package, highly tailored to GPS’ strategy, comprises of a sizeable capex facility, to better support the delivery of the Group’s upcoming growth plans. This fully portable debt structure also enables the partial repayment of shareholder loans issued during the 2022 transaction.
Jean-Francois Baus, CEO of GPS Group, commented:
“This refinancing marks an important milestone in the Group’s trajectory. It gives us the flexibility and firepower to continue investing in our fleet, expanding our international network, and delivering ever higher standards of service to our customers. We are grateful for the continued support of our shareholders and lenders, who share our long-term vision for GPS and the circular economy role we play in the supply chains of our clients.”
Henry-Louis Merieux, Managing Partner – France for MML Partnership, commented:
“Our partnership with GPS has been defined by genuine alignment and a shared long-term vision. Since 2022, we’ve worked closely with Benoît, Jean-François and the management team as they have scaled a truly differentiated business. This refinancing further strengthens the platform and reflects our continued confidence in GPS’s strategic ambitions.”
Andrew Honan, co-Managing Partner of MML Keystone, added:
“GPS represents exactly the kind of high quality, resilient distributed infrastructure platform we aim to support. The company has demonstrated exceptional operational discipline, strong growth and a truly differentiated circular economy model. This new financing provides the platform for the company to drive significant growth over the medium term.”
Louis Robert, Partner at Metric Capital Partners, concluded:
“This financing secures the group’s ability to capture growth opportunities in the coming years and ensures the alignment between GPS’ capital structure and its intrinsic infrastructure characteristics.”
GPS: Benoît Arnaud, Jean-François Baus, Julien Laran, Mathieu René
MML Capital: Henry-Louis Mérieux, Andrew Honan, Charles Le Texier, Myriam Daeschler, Caroline Brethes
Metric Capital Partners: Louis Robert, Diego Prada, Xavier Guillaumet
Lazard: Pierre Ouaknin, Gregory Johnson, Charlotte Workman, Aidan Brannigan, Edouard Guillocheau
Proskauer (Corporate): Jeremy Scemama, Aymeric Robine, Vanessa Hamiane
Proskauer (Tax): Gwenaël Kropfinger, Maxime Dussartre
Proskauer (Finance): Maud Manon, Bruno Valenti
Freshfields: Stuart Rowson, Ally McKechnie, Stéphanie Corbière, Matt Bastion
Lenders: Apterra, PGIM, Arkéa
Facility Agent: GLAS