American Industrial Transport (AITX), a full-service rail car lessor with offices in St. Charles, Missouri, and Maumee, Ohio, has completed the acquisition of rail car assets previously owned by SMBC Rail Services.
AITX is a subsidiary of ITE Management, a transportation and infrastructure investment firm headquartered in New York City. AITX and ITE Management announced plans to acquire the rail car assets from SMBC Rail Services in November. SMBC Rail Services was affiliated with SMBC Americas Holdings, which in turn is part of SMBC Group, a global financial group headquartered in Tokyo.
The acquisition adds more than 50,000 rail cars to AITX’s fleet, bringing the company’s rail car diversified leasing portfolio to nearly 120,000 rail cars.
With the acquisition came changes in AITX’s leadership. Michael McCarthy, who served most recently as CEO of SMBC Rail Services, has been named as AITX president. McCarthy also served in SMBC Rail Services’ commercial leasing and portfolio management business, and he has held senior positions at GE Rail Services and GATX.
“I am incredibly excited to join and help lead the American Industrial Transport team. It is a top organization with a focus on customer service, safety, and quality. As supply chains continue to become more dynamic, we hear from freight shippers that they want trusted partnerships with full-service leaders, like American Industrial Transport,” McCarthy said in a Friday news release.
Texas Howard was named chief operating officer. He will be responsible for overseeing U.S. and European fleet and repair operations, engineering, quality assurance, environmental health and safety, and human resources. Howard was president of AITX for the last 15 months.
“With these additions to our fleet, operations, and leadership team, we are further positioning AITX for greater success by leveraging skills and experiences of the combined teams,” Howard said. “Working alongside Michael and the rest of the AITX team, I could not be more excited about our next chapter of continued growth.”
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