Rail engineering firm snapped up by US giant

Loughborough’s Brush Traction acquired by Wabtec in $31 million deal

A British rail engineering firm with a 150-year history has been snapped up by Pennsylvania’s Wabtec Corporation in a deal worth $31 million.

Loughborough-based Brush Traction Group provides locomotive overhauls, services and aftermarket components. It overhauls and maintains a variety of locomotives, including those used in the Eurotunnel and high-speed services, for leasing companies and transit authorities. The company also provides traction motors, electrical control systems, wheelsets and other locomotive components. The company also has a facility in Kilmarnock, Scotland.

Wabtec said the deal to acquire Brush, which has annual sales of about $55 million, would complement activities it already has in the UK and that it expected the “transaction to be accretive in the first year”.

“This acquisition strengthens our position as a leading aftermarket service provider in the UK,” said Albert Neupaver, Wabtec's president and chief executive officer. “With its focus on the locomotive aftermarket, Brush Traction is a strategic complement to our Wabtec Rail unit in Doncaster, which offers mainly transit car refurbishment. 

“The company has expertise in high-speed rail, strong engineering capabilities, a highly skilled work force and a long-standing reputation for quality.”

Wabtec Corporation is a global provider of value-added, technology-based products and services for rail and other industrial markets. Through its subsidiaries, the company manufactures a range of products for locomotives, freight cars and passenger transit vehicles. The company also builds new switcher and commuter locomotives, and provides aftermarket services. Wabtec has facilities located throughout the world.