NEW YORK, Oct. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- First State Investments (FSI), a leading global investor in infrastructure, today announced it has completed its acquisition of 100% of the equity of Patriot Rail and Ports from SteelRiver Infrastructure Partners, an independent investment manager. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Patriot, based in Jacksonville, Fla., operates a portfolio of 12 short line freight railroads with more than 585 track miles across 14 states and a ports business in the Southeastern United States.

The Patriot acquisition represents the initial unlisted infrastructure investment in the U.S. by First State Investments, which manages more than US$8 billion of unlisted infrastructure investments across the United Kingdom, continental Europe, Australia, New Zealand and North America, with a focus on mid-market companies in the transportation and utility sectors worldwide. FSI manages more than US$156 billion worldwide on behalf of institutional and retail investors.

"Patriot, with its strong operating business and management team led by CEO John Fenton, is now a core asset in our global infrastructure investment portfolio," said John Ma, director of the New York-based unlisted infrastructure team for First State. "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."

First State Investments has appointed the following as members of the board of directors of Patriot:

• John Fenton, CEO of Patriot since 2012
• Gavin Kerr, director at First State Investments
• Gilbert Lamphere, chairman of Patriot, chairman of MidRail, former director of CSX and Canadian National, and former chairman of Illinois Central Railway
• Alexander Lynch, former partner of private equity group White Deer Energy, former chairman of North America M&A group at JP Morgan, and former board member of Canadian National and Illinois Central Railway
• John Ma, director at First State Investments
• Chris McArthur, vice chairman of Patriot and partner at First State Investments
• Richard Timmons, retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, retired Norfolk Southern Railroad executive, and former president of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association

Patriot's operations include line haul and local rail service in addition to rail-related services such as railcar storage, transloading, railcar 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 Southeastern United States.

The transaction was financed with a term loan fully underwritten by RBC Capital Markets and Barclays and successfully syndicated before close. First State was advised by RBC Capital Markets and the law firm of Mayer Brown. SteelRiver was advised by Barclays and the law firm of Winston & Strawn.

About First State Investments

First State Investments, headquartered in Sydney, Australia, is an experienced global asset manager with more than US$156 billion managed on behalf of investors worldwide as of June 30, 2019. FSI is a leading manager of infrastructure investments with more than US$8 billion in unlisted infrastructure equity investments and has been actively investing in long life infrastructure businesses since 1994. FSI is an experienced owner of transport and utility businesses across the USA, Australia, New Zealand, UK and Europe.

In Australia, the firm recently changed its name to First Sentier Investors from Colonial First State Global Asset Management. The name change followed the completion of the firm's sale in August to Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG), from Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA).

Important Information
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SOURCE First State Investments