Financial Edge, December 2018 Railway Age: On Oct. 22, American Railcar Industries Inc. (ARI) announced that it was being acquired by a subsidiary of ITE Rail Fund L.P. (ITE). The acquisition price was $70 per share, for a total purchase price (including debt) of $1.7 billion. That price represented a 51% premium to the previous day’s close (Oct. 19) of $46.29 per share. As ITE is privately held, ARI will become a private company at acquisition.
Our 14 honorees from freight, transit, supplier and trade organizations are driving their businesses forward while helping to make a leadership difference in the industry and community.
Financial Edge, November 2018: In mid-September, CSX filed a report to the FRA stating that its June 2018 derailment near Princeton, Ind., (about 150 miles south of Indianapolis) was caused by buckled track. The derailment included 23 freight cars and caused the evacuation of nearby homes (within a radius of about one mile from the crash site) as a precautionary measure. Some of the derailed cars were carrying liquid petroleum gas (LPG or NGLs) and liquid propane (LP). 60,000 gallons of liquid NGLs were released. One tank railcar filled with leaking propane was on fire.
Railway Age presents its fourth annual Fast Trackers awards, in which we will profile ten individuals under the age of 40 who have made an impact in their respective fields or within their company.
Even in this new world order, when profoundly held beliefs are cast aside according to the whims of political weather, the Oct. 24 call by the Canadian oil lobby for a government takeover of crude by rail (CBR) is a stunning abandonment of principle.
An estimated 64,000 DOT117J (new) and DOT117R (retrofit) tank cars will be produced over the 2019-2022 time frame as confidence grows in a tank car demand resurgence, according to Cowen and Company analyst Matt Elkott.
AllTranstek L.L.C. has added Tax & Audit Services to its fleet management offerings, and has named industry veteran John Hoyt as Manager of the newly created service. The company said it created the new service “to respond to the growing demand for assistance in the highly specialized areas of monitoring tax code changes, ad valorem tax compliance and assessment reviews.”
Cowen and Company’s 3Q18 rail equipment survey indicates that the railcar market recovery remains intact, even though the survey’s results were “somewhat mixed,” according to analyst Matt Elkott. The percentage of shippers planning to order railcars “inched up very slightly, while order sizes decreased a bit. We expect strong 3Q18 orders, driven partly by crude tank car and intermodal equipment demand.”
CIT Group Inc. has completed the sale of NACCO, its European rail leasing business, in two separate transactions: to German-based VTG Aktiengesellschaft (VTG), and to a consortium of WASCOSA AG and a subsidiary of Aves One AG. Net proceeds were $1.1 billion, based on current exchange rates, and included approximately $1.2 billion in assets, which resulted in a modest pre-tax gain, CIT said.
GE Transportation has joined with Roy Hill, Australia’s single-largest iron ore mine, and Hancock Prospecting to support breast cancer treatment and research with two new ES44ACi locomotives and 130 China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC)-built ore cars painted in a bright pink livery. The equipment, unveiled during an event at Roy Hill’s Port Hedland rail terminal, joins Roy Hill’s existing fleet of 21 GE-powered unit trains.
