Ricardo to acquire Lloyd’s Register Rail

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor

Ricardo has signed a Share and Asset Purchase Agreement to acquire the business, operating assets and employees of Lloyd's Register Rail (LR Rail) for £42.5 million (US$63.5 million).

 

Ricardo will acquire Lloyd’s Register Rail Limited and Lloyd’s Register Rail Europe B.V. together with various other assets relating to the rail business of Lloyd’s Register Group Limited and the group of companies.

The acquisition will be complete on or before July 1, 2015, and the business will operate as the core of a new international rail business within Ricardo and combined with Ricardo’s existing rail industry expertise, to be branded Ricardo Rail. Current LR Rail managing director Paul Seller will take on the role of managing director of the Ricardo Rail business.

Ricardo says the acquisition of LR Rail and the future growth of the business is driven by the increasing global interest in urban and high-speed networks and the integration of critical and complex rail technologies as governments respond to accelerating levels of urbanization.

LR Rail recorded revenues of £48.1 million (US$71.9 million) in 2014 and has a staff of 440 rail engineers and specialists located at offices across the globe. LR Rail provides services ranging from rolling stock design, signaling and train control, intelligent rail systems, operational efficiency improvement, training and independent assurance services.

Lloyd’s Register Group made the decision in 2014 to seek a purchaser for its rail business that would be better placed to prioritize the resources and investment and provide the strategic focus on the rail sector.

“I’m delighted to be able to announce today’s share and asset purchase agreement with Lloyd’s Register Group and look forward to welcoming LR Rail’s employees to the global Ricardo team and am excited about the prospects for the new Ricardo Rail business under the leadership of Paul Seller,” commented Ricardo Chief Executive Officer Dave Shemmans. “LR Rail has an impressive market reputation and a very similar culture of quality and excellence in engineering to that of Ricardo and will be an exceptionally good fit with Ricardo in terms of culture, geography, product offering and business model.”

“We have an excellent team and a strong reputation in the industry and I believe that in Ricardo, we have an ideal new owner which shares our strategic vision to create a truly global rail business,” commented LR Rail managing director Paul Seller, who post-acquisition will take on the role of managing director of the new Ricardo Rail business. “Ricardo has a highly respected and long established brand and shares our ethos of independence, engineering excellence, safety and quality. With its strong reputation in locomotive and multiple unit powertrain and driveline systems – from research and concept development through to series manufacture of specialist rail products – it provides an excellent complementary fit with LR Rail’s own areas of expertise. Through Ricardo Rail, we will thus be able to provide an expanded range of value-added services to customers across a significantly enhanced global footprint.”

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