Cathcart Rail Holdings said it has completed its acquisition of The Andersons’ railcar repair business.
The deal was announced in May. Terms were not disclosed.
Cathcart is based in Columbus and operates the Belpre Industrial Pakersburg Railroad among other businesses related to rail car repair.
It has more than 1,000 employees at more than 100 locations around the country.
Columbus-based Cathcart Rail will acquire the rail-car repair division of The Andersons. The deal is expected to close this summer.
In a news release, The Andersons said the sale will complete the agricultural company’s exit from the rail car business.
“The Andersons rail-car repair network aligns perfectly with Cathcart Rail’s strategic goal of offering a broad array of rail services across a national footprint,” said Cathcart Chairman and CEO Casey Cathcart in the news release.
Cathcar Rail is a private freight-rail company offering repair facilities, field services and rail services.
Maumee-based The Andersons has agreed to purchase FreightCar America’s facility in Danville, Illinois, in a $2.2 million transaction.
The 308,000 square foot Danville facility is currently closed and The Andersons plans to convert it to a full-service freight and tank railcar repair shop.
Located along a CSX route, the facility can store up to 400 railcars.
In a news release, The Andersons Rail Group said it will provide a wide range of services, including railcar repair, painting, blasting, cleaning, tank car certification and scrapping. Danville will be the Rail Group’s 21st shop in the United States.
“We are excited to add the Danville facility to our repair network,” said Sam Anderson, Vice President of Operations, The Andersons Rail Group. “The purchase helps support our strategy of providing quality repairs and outstanding service to rail shippers, railroads, and railcar leasing companies across the U.S.”
The deal is expected to close in August 2018 with the shop becoming operational in the fourth quarter of 2018.
The Andersons reported this week that its rail business led its 2016 revenue even though on the whole the Maumee, Ohio, company said it was disappointed in its results overall.
During 2016, The Andersons said its rail business earned $32.4 million in pretax revenues while the ethanol business was second, generating about $24.7 million in revenue.
The company said that it sold underperforming facilities and closed some grain facilities.
The rail operations include locomotive and railcar sales and leasing as well as rolling stock repairs.
Lease income fell to $2.9 million in 2016 from $4.5 million in 2015. However, The Andersons said revenue from car sales and the repair business rose.
In 2016, the company reported $4.7 million in car sales compared to less than $1 million in 2015. The railcar repair business generated $2.1 million last year, compared to about $1.5 million in 2015.
The Andersons, Inc. will expand its ethanol facility in Albion, Michigan, that is served by Norfolk Southern.
“The supply and demand situation in Michigan relative to corn and ethanol is very favorable,” said Chief Executive Officer Pat Bowe in a news release. “Advancements in farm practices and technology continue to increase the size of Michigan’s corn crop and enhance its quality.”
Bowe said that that dynamic, combined with the Albion facility operations, makes the expansion a compelling investment for the company.
Although managed and operated by The Andersons, the Albion facility is co-owned by Marathon Petroleum Corporation.
The Andersons Inc. has purchased Auburn Bean and Grain, which owns six grain and four agronomy facilities in north central Michigan.
The facilities, which hold interchange agreements with Canadian National, CSX and Norfolk Southern, can store about 18.1 million bushels of grain, 16,000 tons of dry products and 3.7 million gallons of liquid nutrients.
The acquisition will increase the storage capacity of The Andersons’ Grain Group by about 13 percent and further enhance the company’s presence in one of its core states, said The Andersons Chief Executive Officer Mike Anderson in a news release.
“This acquisition provides an increase in our storage capacity and volume for both our grain and nutrient businesses, and it also represents a nice geographic fit between our other Michigan assets and our Thompsons joint venture in Ontario,” he said.
The Andersons, Inc. has announced that it has purchased Mile Rail, LLC, a railcar repair and cleaning provider. The Andersons is based in Maumee, Ohio.
Mile Rail has a primary location in Kansas City, Mo., and other plans in Hastings, Neb., and Jeffersonville, Ind. It maintains mobile units in the central Midwest.
“The addition of Mile Rail complements our existing railcar repair network and expands our geographical footprint,” Rasesh Shah, president of The Andersons’ Rail Group, said in a news release. “Additionally, the skilled and customer-service oriented 52-member workforce enables us to expand our capabilities to repair and clean virtually all types of railcars. We are looking forward to this new opportunity with this new team in these new communities and providing service to new customers.”
The Andersons owns 24,000 railcars and locomotives, the eighth largest private fleet in North America, according to company spokesperson Debra Crow. It will now have 20 railcar repair, cleaning, and fabrication facilities located throughout the Midwest.
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