Anacostia Rail Holdings Company (ARH) and Brown Brothers Harriman Capital Partners (BBHCP) today announced the formation of Precision Terminal Logistics (PTL), a jointly owned entity that will operate, build, and acquire transloading terminals across the U.S.
In conjunction with its formation, PTL has acquired select assets from Arrow Material Services, LLC, a provider of transloading and related services. Transloading allows customers without direct rail access to profit from the logistical and environmental benefits of the North American railroad network.
PTL will operate from a headquarters in the Pittsburgh, PA area, with 23 terminals and facilities in 15 states. PTL’s terminals will provide a full suite of logistics solutions to transportation companies, including materials handling, logistics services, transloading, secure bulk commodity storage, and facility construction.
While PTL will operate independently, it will leverage the relationships of both ARH and BBHCP to grow its presence and services. PTL has appointed Ray Nixon as its Chief Executive Officer. Nixon brings more than 20 years of transloading experience to the new company.
“The PTL team is delighted to partner with ARH and BBHCP and we believe that this new company has an exciting opportunity in front of it,” says Nixon. “ARH and BBHCP were instrumental in forming an acquisition strategy to purchase these assets and our collective experience will enable PTL to be particularly effective at providing creative solutions to transportation companies and end-user facilities.”
BBHCP’s investment was made through the BBH Capital Partners Opportunities Fund, L.P. (CP Opportunities Fund), which closed in 2018 with committed capital of $250 million.
“The formation of PTL represents an opportunity for us to acquire a series of established assets with a partner that brings strategic and operational capabilities through its deep market knowledge and relationships throughout the rail and transload industries,” says Donald Hardie, BBH Managing Director and Co-Manager of CP Opportunities Fund.
Jeffrey Price, BBH Senior Vice-President and CP Opportunities Fund Co-Manager added, “BBH and ARH are two firms with longstanding ties to the railroad industry. This invaluable network of relationships and institutional knowledge will be instrumental in PTL’s future growth.”
“This is a unique opportunity to bring together quality operating experience with Anacostia/Brown Brothers Harriman strategic insight and market knowledge,” says Peter Gilbertson, Chief Executive Officer of ARH. “We’re excited to collaborate with BBH on PTL and we believe this will be a successful strategic and financial relationship.”
About BBH Capital Partners
BBHCP, a private equity strategy of Brown Brothers Harriman, provides friendly capital solutions to growth-oriented middle-market companies. Our flexible investment mandate gives us the ability to act as a control or non-control investor and to structure our investments as a combination of equity and subordinated debt securities as needed. BBHCP typically invests between $10 million and $125 million per platform investment, and our capital is used to support a variety of transactions, including management or leveraged buyouts, growth financings, recapitalizations (including dividend recapitalizations), buy-and-build strategies and acquisitions.
About Anacostia Rail Holdings
Anacostia Rail Holdings Company is a privately held holding company that owns and operates freight railroads throughout the U.S. Combined, ARH’s six owned railroads handle the equivalent of over one million carloads annually. ARH provides freight services to major metropolitan centers and smaller communities alike on more than 600 miles of track.
Contacts:
- Anacostia Rail Holdings: Peter Gilbertson, Chief Executive Officer, 312-324-7350, www.anacostia.com
- Brown Brothers Harriman Capital Partners: Jeff Price, Co-Manager, 212-493-4970, www.bbh.com
- Precision Terminal Logistics: Jason Hodge, VP of Commercial Development, 412-514-6023, www.precisiontl.com