Genesee & Wyoming (G&W) has agreed to acquire Providence and Worcester Railroad Company (P&W) in a deal valued at around $126m.
P&W is a regional freight railroad operating in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York in the US. Under the terms of the agreement, G&W will pay $25.00 per share.
The Class II railroad transports a wide variety of commodities for its customers in fields including automobiles, construction aggregates, iron and steel products, chemicals and plastics (including ethanol), lumber, scrap metals, and plastic resins.
G&W's president and CEO Jack Hellmann said: “The acquisition of P&W is an excellent strategic fit with G&W’s contiguous railroads, the New England Central and the Connecticut Southern.”
P&W operates 32 locomotives across 163 miles of owned track and more than 350 miles under track access agreements, G&W said in a statement. Nearly 43,000 carloads and intermodal units are managed by the company every year.
In addition, P&W provides rail services to Providence, Davisville and New Haven ports and to a US Customs bonded intermodal terminal in Worcester, which receives inbound intermodal containers for distribution in New England.
Upon receiving approval from the Surface Transportation Board (STB), P&W would be managed as part of G&W’s Northeast Region.
Hellmann further added: “Following anticipated STB approval of the acquisition, our connectivity with the P&W enables us to realise substantial immediate cost savings, to share and optimise the utilisation of equipment and other assets, and to unlock significant new customer opportunities across sister G&W railroads as well as connecting partners at two Canadian Class I Railroads, two US Class I Railroads and two regional railroads.
“Our acquisition of the P&W will ultimately enhance the efficiency and customer service of rail in New England.”
