L.B. Foster Sells CXT Subsidiary to Nortrak
Written by Carolina Worrell, Senior Editor
L.B. Foster Company (L.B. Foster) announced July 5 that its CXT Incorporated (CXT) subsidiary has completed the sale of substantially all the operating assets of its prestressed concrete railroad tie business located in Spokane, Wash., to voestalpine Railway Systems Nortrak, LLC (Nortrak).
According to L.B. Foster, CXT is retaining all pre-closing accounts receivable, and liabilities associated with the business, while the asset sale to Nortrak includes all owned inventory associated with the line of business, as well as the related fixed assets.
Total cash proceeds from the transaction are expected to be approximately $3 million, subject to customary working capital adjustments. Revenues from the divested business, which was part of L.B. Foster’s Rail, Technologies, and Services segment, totaled approximately $9 million for the trailing-twelve-months ended June 30, 2023.
According to L.B. Foster, the completed transaction “did not have a material impact on the company’s financial guidance for its fiscal year ending December 31, 2023.” L.B. Foster expects net sales for 2023 to range between $520 million to $550 million, with adjusted EBITDA expected between $27 million and $31 million.
With the acquisition of CXT’s concrete rail ties business, Nortrak, a wholly owned subsidiary of Austria-based voestalpine Railway Systems GmbH, says it can now offer its customers “fully integrated onshore system solutions for its networks,” from specialty trackwork, concrete turnout ties, concrete crossties, fastening and signaling systems.
“Nortrak now has the manufacturing capacity to produce mainline concrete crossties to complement its systems solution approach and ability to provide a broad range of rail fastening products from in house sources,” the company stated in a release.
“The acquisition of CXT’s Spokane, Wash., facility positions Nortrak to better serve customers in the Western U.S. and Canada,” said the company, adding that it “continues to expand the support of railway mobility as one of the most sustainable ways of mobility for a green future.”
