Rolling stock procurement, commissioning, maintenance and servicing consultancy Trechnology has acquired Schlummer Management Consulting. SMC founder Edmund Schlummer is retiring but will remain connected in an advisory capacity. The companies will continue to operate independently, but the SMC headquarters will move to Hamburg.
On December 31 FreightCar America closed a $115m four-year term loan agreement, with the proceeds used to redeem all 85 412 shares of Series C Preferred Stock that were outstanding and all accrued dividends as of the same date. The term loan is priced at SOFR + 600, which will reduce the company’s existing cost of capital by approximately 40%, resulting in savings of approximately $9·2m in the first year. ‘The completion of this financing along with the retirement of our Series C Preferred Stock enhances our financial flexibility, cash flow generation and allows us to continue executing our growth strategy with even greater confidence and agility’, said CFO Mike Riordan.
Altamount Software has agreed to buy PSI Software’s Mobility business unit, which has around 100 employees in Germany and Poland. The transaction is expected to close in Q1 2025, subject the approval of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economics Affairs & Climate Action, as the products of PSI Transcom are deemed part of Germany’s critical infrastructure.
On December 20 the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development announced a 33-month conditional non-debarment of four consulting companies that are part of the Egis group and of two subsidiaries, in connection with fraudulent practices under two EBRD-financed projects. One was the upgrade of a railway between central Alexandria and Abou Qir in Egypt, when it was found that Egis Rail failed to disclose a local agent’s involvement in connection with the procurement and contract execution. Egis Rail will remain eligible to participate in EBRD-financed projects and operations, provided that the companies comply with their obligations under the settlement agreement.
Vijay Kumar has been appointed General Manager of Chittaranjan Locomotive Works.
A Stucki Company has appointed Jacob Creech as VP Sales and Clay Dark as VP Information Technology. Creech was most recently director of locomotive and wagon leasing for Progress Rail, and before that a service engineer with Amsted Rail. Dark was director of IT for chemical company Huntsman Corp.