(The following appeared on the Progressive Railroading website on March 13.)
Fortress Investment Group L.L.C. is seeking Surface Transportation Board (STB) approval to merge RailAmerica Inc. and Florida East Coast Railway (FECR).
Under an “Exemption for a Transaction Within a Corporate Family” filing submitted to the STB on March 3, Fortress proposes to combine its two holdings and make FECR a wholly owned subsidiary of RailAmerica.
“The transaction is within a corporate family and will not result in any adverse changes in service levels, significant operational changes, or a change in the competitive balance with carriers outside the corporate family,” Fortress officials said in the filing.
Fortress acquired RailAmerica — which owns and operates 41 U.S. and Canadian regionals and short lines — in February 2007 and obtained STB approval in September 2007 to control the 351-mile FECR per an acquisition agreement with Florida East Coast Industries Inc. Sometime after June 1, Fortress plans to relocate RailAmerica’s headquarters from Boca Raton to Jacksonville, Fla., where FECR maintains offices.