Ullico has closed its investment in Tidewater, an intermodal transportation business serving waterways in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and Canada. Ullico invested alongside Upper Bay Infrastructure Partners, BlackRock, Silverfern and certain other co-investors to jointly acquire 100 percent interest in Tidewater from Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners. Tidewater primarily operates a sizeable fleet of tugs and barges along the Columbia and Snake Rivers, in Vancouver Harbor and the Vancouver Island area.
“Tidewater benefits from geographical and regulatory dynamics, making it an essential transportation provider for multiple commodities in the Pacific Northwest region” said Rohit Syal, head of acquisitions for Ullico’s infrastructure business. “This business has a long history of delivering consistent performance and cost-effective transportation solutions to its customers.”
The transaction is Ullico’s second investment in the transportation sector, preceded by Student Transportation in early 2018. The Tidewater business offers a unique competitive position through its ownership of intermodal trans-loading terminals and barge tie-off points, its fleet of barges and tugs and its long-standing customer relationships. Tidewater has a long history of transporting liquid fuels, grain and other commodities that are essential to the economy of the Pacific Northwest.
“Tidewater is a unique and proven business that provides a good complement to Ullico’s long-term contracted investments and adds to the core-plus category of the portfolio,” said Jeff Murphy, portfolio manager for Ullico’s infrastructure business.
Ullico, through its infrastructure business, currently has investments in the water, waste water, electricity transmission, power generation, and transportation sectors and is exploring opportunities in all core sectors.
Tonkon Torp acted as legal adviser and Evercore acted as financial adviser to Stonepeak. Bracewell acted as legal adviser to the investor consortium, while Norton Rose Fulbright was the counsel for Ullico.