First State Investments completes Patriot Rail acquisition

First State Investments (FSI), a global investor in infrastructure, announced today it has completed its acquisition of Patriot Rail and Ports from SteelRiver Infrastructure Partners, an independent investment manager.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

The acquisition is FSI's first unlisted infrastructure investment in the United States.

"Railroads are long life assets that provide essential transportation services to a diverse customer base. We are excited to support the Patriot team and see many opportunities to continue to expand the business in North America," said John Ma, director of FSI's unlisted infrastructure team, in a press release.

Patriot operates 12 short lines with more than 585 track miles across 14 states and a ports business in the southeastern U.S.

In addition to Ma, FSI appointed the following members to Patriot's board:
• John Fenton, Patriot's chief executive officer since 2012;
• Gavin Kerr, an FSI director;
• Gilbert Lamphere, chairman of Patriot, chairman of MidRail, and former director of CSX and CN;
• Alexander Lynch, a former board member of CN and Illinois Central Railroad;
• Chris McArthur, vice chairman of Patriot and partner at FSI; and
• Richard Timmons, retired Norfolk Southern Railway executive and former president of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association.

Patriot's operations include line haul and local rail service, as well as rail-car storage; transloading; rail-car cleaning, scrapping, repair and maintenance; and contract switching.

The Patriot ports business provides terminal stevedoring, logistics, and warehousing services across nine terminals and two cold storage facilities in the southeast United States.

FSI announced in August that it had reached an agreement to acquire 100 percent of equity in Patriot Rail and Ports.