Genesee & Wyoming to buy Providence and Worcester Railroad in $126m deal
Staff Writer |
Genesee & Wyoming has agreed to acquire Providence and Worcester Railroad Company (P&W) for $25.00 per share, or approximately $126 million.
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Subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions, the acquisition is expected to close following the receipt of P&W shareholder approval in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Headquartered in Worcester, Mass., and operating in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York, P&W is contiguous with G&W’s New England Central Railroad (NECR) and Connecticut Southern Railroad (CSO).
Rail service is provided by approximately 140 P&W employees with 32 locomotives across 163 miles of owned track and over approximately 350 miles under track access agreements.
This includes exclusive freight access over Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor between New Haven, Conn., and Providence, R.I., and trackage rights over Metro-North Commuter Railroad, Amtrak and CSX Corp. between New Haven, Conn., and Queens, N.Y. P&W interchanges with G&W’s NECR and CSO railroads, as well as with CSX, Norfolk Southern, Pan Am Railways, Pan Am Southern, the Housatonic Railroad and the New York and Atlantic Railroad, and also connects to Canadian National and Canadian Pacific via NECR.
P&W serves a diverse mix of aggregates, auto, chemicals, metals and lumber customers in southeastern New England, handling approximately 43,000 carloads and intermodal units annually.
In addition, P&W provides rail service to three ports (Providence, Davisville and New Haven) and to a U.S. Customs bonded intermodal terminal in Worcester, Mass., that receives inbound intermodal containers for distribution in New England.
P&W also owns approximately 45 acres of undeveloped waterfront land in East Providence, R.I., that was initially created as a deep water, rail served port through a $12 million investment. G&W expects to sell this undeveloped land.
Upon approval by the Surface Transportation Board (STB), P&W would be managed as part of G&W’s Northeast Region, led by senior vice president Dave Ebbrecht.
The addition of P&W to G&W’s existing presence in the region substantially enhances G&W’s ability to serve customers and Class I partners in New England, which is a highly competitive rail market with a premium placed on timely, efficient and safe rail service.
The acquisition is anticipated to unlock significant cost savings through overhead, operational and long-term network efficiencies as well as to generate significant new commercial opportunities. ■