Strukton Rail increased its stake in the Italian rail contractor CLF Group from 60% to 100% with the acquisition of 40% of the shares from Unieco on January 14. Strukton Rail has been a shareholder of CLF since 1998 and became the majority shareholder in 2013. Banco BPM SpA acted as arranger for the financing of this transaction. CLF Group has 667 employees and turnover of €167m in 2017.
Voith has acquired a 56% stake in Swedish on-board IT systems supplier Pilotfish, which has 30 employees,customers in Sweden, Norway, Germany and France and generated revenue of €6m in 2018. Terms were not disclosed. 'Voith, with its global reach and resources as a multinational company and decades of experience in the field of public transportation and vehicle industry, is an ideal partner when it comes to expand and scale our business', said Pilotfish CEO Tomas Gabinus. 'We will be able to grow faster, reach new markets and create more job opportunities;.
Dasan Zhone Solutions has completed the acquisition of telecoms network supplier Keymile, which had been announced in October 8. Keymile will become the DZS European headquarters for sales, support, research, development, production and logistics.
Gemini Rail Services has begun consultation on the proposed closure of the Springburn workshop in Glasgow, which Knorr-Bremse divested last year. ‘The proposal has been made against a backdrop of increasingly challenging market conditions which are outside of our control and severely affect our core business of maintaining pre-privatisation rolling stock’, said GRS Managing Director Nick Fitzwater. ‘Springburn will continue to suffer a major decline in work due to its location and the section of the market it serves. This market downturn has been evident for many years, and despite the efforts of management to explore avenues to improve the situation, and the hard work and dedication of the workforce to deliver on contracts won by the company, the company is suffering unsustainable losses.’
Journey planning company Jorudan has signed a partnership agreement to integrate Masabi’s mobile ticketing with its products.
UK environmental, engineering and technical services business RSK Group has appointed Adrian Calder as Business Development Director for rail. ‘The rail sector presents a huge opportunity to continue the excellent growth pattern that RSK Group has seen over the past few years, both organically and through strategic acquisitions’, he said.
Stäubli Electrical Connectors has obtained certification to the new rail industry standard ISO/TS 22163 based on ISO 9001, which replaces IRIS and defines rules for project management, special process control, risk analysis and knowledge management.
