DARIEN, CT: July 01, 2019. US rail company Genesee & Wyoming (G&W) is being purchased by Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC in a transaction valued at US$8.4 billion, including debt.

G&W owns a portfolio of 120 short line railroads, predominantly in North America, with operations in Europe and Australia. The business provides transportation infrastructure services over more than 26,000 kilometers of track.

“We believe this transaction is an excellent outcome for all G&W stakeholders,” said Jack Hellmann, G&W chairman and CEO. “For our current stockholders, the sale price realizes significant value and represents a 39.5 percent premium to our March 08 share price. And for long-term investors who have owned our shares for the past two decades, [it] represents a return of more than 5,400 percent.”

Brookfield CEO Sam Pollock said the deal was a “rare opportunity to acquire a large-scale transport infrastructure business in North America”. GIC Chief Investment Officer Ang Eng Seng added: “As a long-term investor GIC is confident G&W will continue to generate steady profitability, given its diversified operations and customer base.”

The deal is expected to close by the end of this year or in early 2020 subject to approval by G&W stockholders, the intra-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the U.S. Surface Transportation Board and other government antitrust entities.

Brookfield Infrastructure is investing US$500 million in G&W stock with the balance owned by Brookfield Infrastructure’s institutional partners and GIC.

GIC, formerly the government of Singapore Investment Corporation, is a sovereign wealth fund established in 1981 to manage Singapore's foreign reserves.