(SOURCE: TRAINS Newswire)
BANGOR, Maine – A U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Maine has approved the sale of the
Montreal, Maine & Atlantic assets to Railroad Acquisition Holdings for
$16.85 million. Railroad Acquisition Holdings is an affiliate of New York-based
Fortress Investment Group, owner of the Florida East Coast.
“We think
this is a very good sale for the state of Maine, for the region, for the
railroad. Fortress is a proven operator. They have access to capital and I think
this will ultimately be a very good thing for the state and for the railroad,”
Robert Keach, the railroad company’s trustee in its bankruptcy proceedings,
tells the Bangor Daily News.
RailWorld holdings and other investors had
purchased the property from the bankrupt Iron Road Railways in October 2002 for
$50 million. There were no competing bids at that time.
Concurrent with
the railroad sale, Great Northern Paper announced that it would halt production
at its East Millinocket mill for up to 16 weeks while the company creates a new
business plan and retools production, according to the Daily News. Great
Northern filed for bankruptcy on the same day the MM&A was created, shutting
down for an extended period. At the time it constituted 25 percent of the short
line's traffic.
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