• Genesee & Wyoming G&W Sold and Taken Private

  • For discussion of the various Class II and III Lines of the Genesee & Wyoming Inc. Railroad Holding Co. short-lines which do not have their own forums as noted:

    Their website is here: GWRR.com
    A list of their holdings is here: Wikipedia List
For discussion of the various Class II and III Lines of the Genesee & Wyoming Inc. Railroad Holding Co. short-lines which do not have their own forums as noted:

Their website is here: GWRR.com
A list of their holdings is here: Wikipedia List
  by bostontrainguy
 
I often check out a railroad's infrastructure on Google Earth and see many closed and unused businesses along the right of way. Old customers who won't be coming back. I always thought that if only the railroad could take over some of these industries and bring them back to life or at least reuse the properties for other rail-related use. A great example of this is the Grafton and Upton that has impressed me with their ability to resurrect a pretty-much dead line.

Now if Brookfield Infrastructure can do the same for all these similar businesses along the G&W tracks, they could maybe make a difference in the national carloads numbers.
  by gokeefe
 
Brookfield is an interesting owner. They definitely like to buy, own and grow the assets they acquire.
  by Fritz
 
Hello,
Has anyone heard the results of the Special Meeting at which shareholders were to vote on whether or not to approve the "privatization" of Genesee & Wyoming? The meeting was supposed to have been held on October 3rd, but I have not seen anything in the news.
Best,
Fritz
  by johnpbarlow
 
So here's some sensational provocative reading ripped from the filings page of the STB web site:
https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/ ... 300113.pdf

A brief digest:

Victoria Dalrymple, a principal in Dalrymple Finance ("Dalrymple Finance provides deep fundamental research to hedge funds and other institutional investors. Our research focuses on finding gaps between public perception and reality. Dalrymple Finance also founded the Responsible Governance and Investment Council. RGIC focuses on corporate governance issues particularly as they relate to and have an impact on investors in public securities."), files a 242 page Support Statement for Samuel J Trasca's (SMART Transportation Division union) November 18, 2019 Petition for Reconsideration and/or to Revoke the Surface Transportation Board’s October 28, 2019 decision to allow Brookfield Asset Management’s notice of exemption for the acquisition of Genesee & Wyoming Inc. to become effective.

Dalrymple's reason's for protesting Brookfield's acquisition of G&W are:
"...The support petition rests on two facts that directly invalidate the exemption by violating the main governing law of the transaction, the Staggers Act both in its intent and its specific provisions as detailed below:
I. The Pyramid Structure of the Acquirer Is Proven to Be A Priori Anticompetitive
II. There is Evidence of Significant Influence of Foreign Governments over the Acquirer ..."

It's Dalrymple's 2nd point where things get interesting:

"...Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund (QIA) is the largest investor in Brookfield Property Partners, (BPY), a Brookfield Asset Management controlled entity. The QIA’s $1.8 billion investment is guaranteed by Brookfield Asset Management. QIA is also joint venture partners with Brookfield Property Partners on two large real estate developments. On August 3, 2018 a Brookfield controlled investment vehicle closed on the purchase of 666 Fifth Avenue from Jared Kushner for $1.4 billion in cash. The deal was “larger than expected” and controversially viewed as a “bailout” of Kushner’s bad investment. Press reports at the time questioned whether Brookfield was acting on behalf of the Qataris given the extensive relationship. At the time, Brookfield told reporters that the Qataris “had no knowledge of the deal before its public announcement”. Management’s disclosure seems impossible given the terms of the Qatari investment...."

and "...A lawsuit filed in United States District Court, Middle District of Florida contains testimony from a Canadian business man describing how Brookfield was knowingly used as a conduit for the government of Qatar to pay the Kushner family $1.4 billion. It states that the government of Qatar told Brookfield to “find a way to pay Jared Kushner without going by the book”. Brookfield executives did not want to purchase the property because it was “people’s money” and a bad investment. However, the government of Qatar “assured the company of Brookfield that they would ensure the purchase of 666 Fifth Avenue for $1.4 billion if it failed”. The testimony establishes a direct line of influence from a foreign government to Brookfield’s U.S. operations...."

Finally, attached to the STB filing letter is a lengthy transcription of a recorded deposition in front of Toronto Court Reporters Ltd, of Alan Bender, a Kuwait-born Canadian businessman, who has recently attained fame by levying many unverified allegations against U.S. politicians, from Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar to Kushner (see https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/11/27/qa ... audi-ties/).
Not only is the Qatari government involvement with Brookfield's purchase of Kushner real estate to gain White House influence discussed, but several other familiar names pop-up: Giuliani, Ilhan Omar, Linda Sarsour, Hezbollah...

Who would have thought these international politcal machinations would be documented at the US Surface Transit Board? Of course, one wonders how much of Bender's assertions are true? We live in interesting times...