BOCA RATON, Fla. — RailAmerica, Inc., the world’s largest short line and regional railroad operator, announced that it has completed its acquisition of ParkSierra Corp. for $48 million. The final purchase price consisted of approximately $23 million in cash and approximately $25 million in RailAmerica common stock. The Company stated that the cash component of the transaction was completed using a portion of the proceeds from its recent common stock private placement as well as financing provided by its senior bank group.
ParkSierra, founded in 1990 by David L. Parkinson and headquartered in Napa, California, consists of the Arizona & California Railroad, the California Northern Railroad and the Puget Sound & Pacific Railroad. These railroads operate 751 miles of track in four western U.S. states with 31 locomotives and 98 employees.
Gary O. Marino, Chairman, President & CEO of RailAmerica, said, “We would like to welcome the employees, shippers and shareholders of ParkSierra to the RailAmerica organization. Our acquisition of this fine operation will significantly enhance RailAmerica’s presence in the Pacific region as these railroads all have excellent commercial prospects and sound infrastructures. This region is an area where we project substantial market growth and synergies with our other rail properties. We expect that this transaction will be accretive to our company this year.”
RailAmerica, Inc. (www.railamerica.com), the world’s largest short line and regional railroad operator, now owns 50 short line and regional railroads operating approximately 13,200 route miles in the United States, Canada, Australia and Chile. In North America, the Company’s railroads operate in 29 states and five Canadian provinces. Internationally, the Company operates an additional 4,300 route miles under track access arrangements in Australia and Argentina. In October 2001, RailAmerica was ranked 85th on Forbes magazine’s list of the 200 Best Small Companies in America; in July 2001, the Company was named to the Russell 2000® Index.