Let me take a shot at this.
First, equity. You don't build any equity on rolling stock, it only depreciates. You will build equity on real estate as it generally goes up in price, trucks and trailers only go down. When purchased, the cost is all up front on the acquisition and there is no more cost after that time (other than fuel, maintenance, etc). When leased or rented the cost is higher and lasts for the entire time you use the vehicle and the leasing company gets to claim the depreciation. The reason you may choose to lease is that you don't have the money to purchase up front for example. Now, if you were to purchase with a loan, you would have an end point where you would stop paying for the acquisition, and would have the additional expense and corresponding credit for the interest. After the payments are done however, you gain the use of the vehicle without acquisition cost going forward.
Second. It's not really any easier to walk away from a leasing situation as there is a contract that still has to be honored. If there was just one subsidiary involved in the closing, the equipment could be transfered to the surviving subsidiary and stay in business. In a complete closing there would still be contracts that would have to be dealt with at bankruptcy. You couldn't lease equipment in one subsidiary, close it and walk away to operate the surviving concern without consequence.