Jaguar Transport Holdings (Jaguar) and The Western Group (TWG) have announced that Jaguar has acquired five short-line railroads and a railroad construction and maintenance company from TWG. Jaguar is partnered with OPSEU Pension Plan Trust Fund (“OPTrust”), which invests and manages one of Canada’s largest pension funds and has significant experience investing in the surface transportation and logistics space. The Western Group, a rail transportation services company founded in 1972 by Dave Durbano is headquartered in Ogden, Utah.
The railroads being acquired in the transaction are:
- Cimarron Valley Railroad in Southwest Kansas, Northern Oklahoma, and Eastern Colorado
- Washington Eastern Railroad in Eastern Washington
- Texas and Eastern Railroad with operations between Rusk and Palestine, Texas, along with the Texas State Railroad
- Southwestern Railroad in Southern New Mexico
- Oregon Eastern Railroad in Eastern Oregon
Also being acquired is The Western Railroad Builders, a railroad engineering, design, construction, and maintenance firm with industrial and railroad clients.
Jaguar, a transportation, and logistics service company founded in 2018, headquartered in Joplin, Missouri, took over operations on November 1, 2020. Jaguar’s entrepreneurial approach focuses on customers and the ability of the Jaguar team to identify new opportunities to grow the business.
-via Press Release