DFW Capital is continuing the growth of its North American Rail Solutions platform with the closings of four add-on acquisitions through May 2024.
DFW formed North American Rail Solutions in April 2023 as a platform in the rail services industry and to consolidate its investment in the sector, specifically American Track which it acquired in November 2021 from Hilltop Private Capital.
American Track’s first add-on was Pennsylvania-based The Railroad Associates Corporation (TRAC) in March 2022, and in April 2023 it acquired Edmonton-based Universal Rail Systems.
The four new 2024 add-ons include West Rail Construction, a Washington-based provider of rail maintenance and construction services in the Pacific Northwest (February 2024); Condor Signals & Communications, an Ontario-based provider of rail signals and communications services across North America and Canada (March 2024); Strategic Rail, a Wisconsin-based provider of job site organization, maintenance, and cleanup services to Class I and industrial railroad operators (May 2024); and Tri-Innovations, an Alberta-based rail engineering company with expertise in designing rail facilities and terminals for both industrial and Class I railroad carriers (May 2024). West Rail and Strategic Rail will operate as part of American Track, with Condor and Tri-Innovations operating as part of North American Rail.
Today, Fort Worth, Texas-headquartered North American Rail Solutions and American Track operate 25 full-service offices in the United States and Canada. They provide safety, compliance, and operability services to onsite railway assets at ports, transload facilities, transit, Class I, and short-line railroads. The company has annual revenues of nearly $500 million.
“The NARS team continues to build a unique, high value-add service provider to the North American rail infrastructure market – and with these four strategic acquisitions, has further cemented itself as the leader in end-to-end rail infrastructure design, build, inspection, maintenance and repair,” said Keith Pennell, the managing partner of DFW. “We continue to believe the long-term positive trends in rail transportation and storage utilization, as well as ageing infrastructure, will provide a strong backdrop against which NARS can grow its service and customer base.”
DFW Capital invests in service companies, with an emphasis on outsourced business and industrial support services, and healthcare companies that have revenues of up to $200 million and EBITDA up to $20 million.
In January 2023, DFW held a final, oversubscribed, and hard cap close of DFW Capital Partners VII LP with $800 million of capital. Fund VII follows the firm’s sixth fund which held its first and final closing in April 2019 with $500 million of capital. DFW is headquartered in New York City with an additional office in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
© 2024 Private Equity Professional | June 27, 2024
