Infrastructure fund acquires MobilGrain short lines in Saskatchewan – Trains

REGINA, Saskatchewan — Grain and pulse crop processor AGT Food & Ingredients has sold its MobilGrain short lines and its rail and port terminal operations to an infrastructure fund.

The sale to GCM Grosvenor, announced Wednesday (Nov. 20), includes MobilGrain’s two Saskatechewan short lines, Last Mountain Rail and Big Sky Rail, both of which connect with Canadian National. The 87-mile Last Mountain includes 100 miles of running rights on CN. Big Sky is a 258-mile line across central and west central Saskatchewan.

Also included in the deal are MobilGrain’s grain and potash loading facility at the port of Thunder Bay, Ontario; Intermobil, a CN-served private intermodal terminal in Regina; and bulk rail loading facilities in Condie, Aylesbury, Delisle, Dinsmore, Lucky Lake, Beechy, Elrose, Kyle, Eston, and Laporte, Saskatchewan.

MobilGrain generates $3 billion in annual revenue, AGT said. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“AGT is thrilled to enter this partnership with GCM Grosvenor, a key infrastructure investor who wants to hold the infrastructure for the long term, improve and grow it to build on the work that MobilGrain and AGT have done over the past two decades operating these assets,” AGT CEO Murad Al-Katib said in a statement.

GCM Grosvenor said it would retain MobilGrain’s employees and work with Bluejay Capital Partners to tap its transportation and short line railroad expertise.

“CN is pleased with the long and successful partnership with AGT and MobilGrain in this important Saskatchewan shortline railway corridor. We look forward to building on this successful collaboration to grow our business by working with GCM Grosvenor and MobilGrain to further improve first-mile service, and to bring more of Saskatchewan’s potash and agricultural products to the world,” CN Chief Commercial Officer Remi G. Lalonde said in a statement.