Patriot Rail Completes Acquisition of Pioneer Lines

Increasing Service Capabilities for Rail Shippers Across the Country

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Sept. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Patriot Rail Company LLC today completed the acquisition from BRX Transportation Holdings of Denver-based Pioneer Lines, Inc., a railroad holding company including 15 short line railroads. The transaction closed following regulatory authorization.

The acquisition advances Patriot Rail's growth strategy, increasing the Jacksonville, Florida, company's short line operations from 16 to 31 railroads. Patriot now serves customers with operations in 23 states.

"We are pleased to bring Pioneer Lines railroads into Patriot Rail," said John E. Fenton, Patriot Rail's chief executive officer. "Doubling our footprint across the U.S. furthers our commitment to exceed customer expectations as a best-in-class rail partner. Patriot Rail takes great pride in delivering value to our customers with safety always as our core foundation, and our expansion will drive deeper commercial and logistics relationships."

"Patriot Rail's accelerating growth opens more opportunities for innovative and sustainable freight transport solutions," said John Ma, Patriot board member and co-head of North America for Igneo Infrastructure Partners, Patriot's majority investor. "Igneo continues to see strong potential for long-term returns through our investment in the Patriot Rail platform."

Patriot Rail board chair Deb Butler added, "Patriot Rail has the growth mindset and financial capacity to invest in profitable initiatives benefitting rail shippers and our long-term investors. We welcome our new Patriot team members to our employee-first leadership culture, and the future is bright for the customers, stakeholders, and communities we serve."

About Patriot Rail
Patriot Rail operates 31 regional and freight short line railroads, a scenic rail excursion train, and rail-related services companies with operations in 23 states. Service capabilities include railcar storage, contract switching, transloading, railcar cleaning, engineering services, excursion railroads, real estate, and track access. Patriot Rail is also a direct partner in providing railcar repair and maintenance, railcar dismantling, and environmental services including centralized wastewater treatment. For more information, visit patriotrail.com.

About Igneo Infrastructure Partners
Igneo Infrastructure Partners is an autonomous investment team in the First Sentier Investors Group. It invests in high-quality, mature, mid-market infrastructure companies in the utilities and transport sectors in the UK, Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. Operating since 1994, the team works closely with portfolio companies to create long-term sustainable value through innovation and proactive asset management. Igneo manages more than US$15 billion in assets as of June 30, 2022 on behalf of more than 120 institutional investors around the world. For more information, visit igneoip.com.

SOURCE Patriot Rail