Grand Rapids-based Auxo Investment Partners said Wednesday, Dec. 15, it acquired Ferrovia Services, an Auburn, Alabama-based provider of railroad and Department of Transportation (DOT) vegetation management services with locations across the U.S. The addition follows Auxo’s recent purchase of Genesis Rail Services, a railroad maintenance company. Founded in 1976, Ferrovia provides mission-critical and regulated vegetation management, inspection and abatement services to North America’s Class I railroads, as well as a variety of Class II, short line, industrial railroad customers, state DOTs and utility providers.
Auxo Investment Partners reached further into the rail industry with the acquisition of Ferrovia Services LLC, an Auburn, Ala.-based railroad vegetation management company. The acquisition follows Grand Rapids-based Auxo’s October acquisition of railroad maintenance company Genesis Rail Services LLC in Bluefield W. Va.
GRAND RAPIDS — Private equity firm Auxo Investment Partners has entered the railroad business with the acquisition of maintenance company Genesis Rail Services LLC. The Grand Rapids-based Auxo Investment Partners acquired a majority stake in the Bluefield, W. Va.-, and Roanoke, Va.-based Genesis Rail Services. The deal comes amid expectations for strong rail industry growth in the coming years from restocking low inventories that resulted from pandemic-related supply chain disruptions, as well as a driver shortage in the trucking industry. The resulting increase in rail traffic will mean increased maintenance of rail lines and their right of ways. The 12-year-old company provides maintenance, mechanical and construction services for industrial railroads across the U.S. Genesis Rail Services’ clients are Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern, Canadian National, Amtrak and Florida East Coast Railway. “We like a lot of dynamics here and just the long-term growth potential. Just the fact that this type of work within the railroad business is chronic maintenance that has to be done year in and year out: We like that dynamic of the type of work Genesis does,” said Jeff Helminski, Auxo’s co-founder and managing partner.
As the Class I railroads implement precision scheduled railroading, the focus is on ensuring the network runs smoothly and efficiently. While the railroads still have maintenance crews, some companies are taking advantage of the industry’s openness to outsourcing the everyday maintenance work. That’s why Auxo Investment Partners, a Grand Rapids, Michigan-based private equity firm specializing in manufacturing, industrial and transportation investments, has acquired two companies that provide railroad maintenance and mechanical services to the freight railroads. These two new acquisitions are Ferrovia Services, an Auburn, Alabama-based provider of vegetation management along railroad infrastructure, and Genesis Rail Services, which provides maintenance of way, mechanical and construction services and is based out of Bluefield, West Virginia, and Roanoke, Virginia. Auxo announced its acquisition of Genesis last month and its acquisition of Ferrovia on Thursday. Auxo says its goal is to integrate the two companies under one platform as a way to cross-sell services and improve offerings to existing customers.
Auxo, a private investment firm, is developing a set of rail maintenance-of-way services through their acquisition of two companies in Q4 2021. First, in October, the company acquired Genesis Rail Services, which is a full-service railroad maintenance company based in Bluefield, W. Va., and Roanoke, Va. Cody Harman, son of company founder Jeff Harman, will retain a minority ownership stake in the company and continue in his role running day-to-day operations. Second, in December, Auxo acquired Ferrovia Services, a provider of railroad and Department of Transportation vegetation management services with locations across the U.S. The company is based in Auburn, Ala.