After two months of rumors, RailAmerica Inc. announced a $1.3 billion buyout agreement this morning.
Jacksonville-based RailAmerica agreed to be acquired by Greenwich, Conn.-based Genesee & Wyoming Inc. in a deal that will combine the two largest short-line and regional rail operators in North America, the companies said.
RailAmerica currently operates 45 short-line railroads and GWI operates 66.
GWI will pay $27.50 per share in cash to buy RailAmerica, a total of about $1.3 billion.
RailAmerica’s stock closed at $24.81 Friday. It had been trading at about $21 in May before market rumors about a buyout started pushing the stock higher. RailAmerica then announced that it was considering possible buyout offers.
“For RailAmerica, the sale represents validation of the transformational improvements that our management team and employees have made since the acquisition of the business in 2007 by investment funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group LLC,” RailAmerica CEO John Giles said in a news release this morning.
“From this strong base of operations and having unlocked significant shareholder value, a combination with Genesee & Wyoming is the logical next step in creating a combined organization that will be a powerful driver of North American rail traffic
for decades to come,” Giles
said.
Fortress moved RailAmerica’s headquarters from Boca Raton to Jacksonville and took the company public in 2009.
“The acquisition of RailAmerica by GWI is a straightforward combination of two organizations with overlapping holding company structures and complementary railroad geographies,” GWI Chief Executive Jack Hellman said in the news release.
“As a result, the synergies between the companies are expected to be significant, and we anticipate unlocking significant shareholder value,” he said.
The companies did not say this morning where the headquarters of the combined company will be located.
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