LAKE OSWEGO, Ore., March 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Greenbrier Companies announced today that it has closed on the acquisition of substantially all of the operating assets of American Allied Railway Equipment Company and its subsidiaries ("American Allied"). The purchase price of the acquisition of $83 million in cash, plus working capital adjustments, was paid from Greenbrier's existing cash balances and credit facilities.
American Allied Railway Equipment Co., Inc and its subsidiaries American Allied Freight Car Co., Inc. and American Allied Railway Equipment Co., South L.L.C. have been an innovative supplier to the rail industry for over 40 years, with a strong reputation for customer service. Operating from two strategically located wheel facilities in Washington, Illinois and Macon, Georgia, American Allied supplies new and reconditioned wheelsets to freight car maintenance locations as well as new railcar manufacturing facilities. American Allied also operates a parts reconditioning business in Peoria, Illinois, where it reconditions railcar yokes, couplers, side frames and bolsters.
American Allied's final calendar 2007 financial results were about $95 million in annual revenues and $15 million in annual EBITDA, with a work force approaching 130 employees.
With the addition of American Allied's three facilities, Greenbrier's refurbishment & parts business now operates from 38 strategic locations in the U.S. and Mexico, providing an end-to-end shop network for wheel replacement, replacement parts and railcar repair.
About Greenbrier
Greenbrier (http://www.gbrx.com), headquartered in Lake Oswego, Oregon, is a leading supplier of transportation equipment and services to the railroad industry. The Company builds new railroad freight cars in its three manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and Mexico and marine barges at its U.S. facility. It also repairs and refurbishes freight cars and provides wheels and railcar parts at 38 locations across North America. Greenbrier builds new railroad freight cars and refurbishes freight cars for the European market through both its operations in Poland and various subcontractor facilities throughout Europe. Greenbrier owns approximately 9,000 railcars, and performs management services for approximately 138,000 railcars.
"SAFE HARBOR" STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995: This release may contain forward-looking statements. Greenbrier uses words such as "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "expect," "future," "intend" and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. These forward- looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward- looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, fluctuations in demand for newly manufactured railcars or failure to obtain orders as anticipated in developing forecasts; loss of one or more significant customers; actual future costs and the availability of materials and a trained workforce; failure to design or manufacture new products or technologies or to achieve certification or market acceptance of new products or technologies; steel price increases and scrap surcharges; changes in product mix and the mix between segments; labor disputes, energy shortages or operating difficulties that might disrupt manufacturing operations or the flow of cargo; production difficulties and product delivery delays as a result of, among other matters, changing technologies or non- performance of subcontractors or suppliers; ability to obtain suitable contracts for the sale of leased equipment and risks related to car hire and residual values; difficulties associated with governmental regulation, including environmental liabilities; integration of current or future acquisitions; succession planning; all as may be discussed in more detail under the headings "Risk Factors" on page 10 of Part I , Item 1a and "Forward Looking Statements" on page 28 of Part II of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2007. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect management's opinions only as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to these forward-looking statements.
EBITDA is not a financial measure under GAAP. We define EBITDA as earnings from operations before special charges, interest and foreign exchange, taxes, depreciation and amortization. We consider net cash provided by operating activities to be the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure. EBITDA is a liquidity measurement tool commonly used by rail supply companies and we use EBITDA in that fashion. You should not consider EBITDA in isolation or as a substitute for cash flow from operations or other cash flow statement data determined in accordance with GAAP. In addition, because EBITDA is not a measure of financial performance under GAAP and is susceptible to varying calculations, the EBITDA measure presented may differ from and may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies.