Ropes & Gray Advises Rand Logistics in its Acquisition of American Steamship Co.

Ropes & Gray is advising Rand Logistics Inc., an affiliate of American Industrial Partners, in its acquisition of American Steamship Co. from GATX Corporation. The transaction was announced on February 10. The press release is here.

The strategic combination of Rand Logistics and American Steamship will create the largest and most diverse fleet on the Great Lakes, serving different and highly complementary markets with multiple self-unloading vessel classes. American Steamship operates the largest fleet of U.S. flagged vessels on the Great Lakes, providing waterborne transportation of over 27 million tons annually of dry bulk commodities such as iron ore, coal and limestone on vessels ranging in size from 634 feet to over 1000 feet.

Rand Logistics is a leading provider of bulk freight shipping services throughout the Great Lakes region.

The Ropes & Gray team that advised Rand Logistics was led by private equity partner Daniel Evans (New York), and included finance partner Stefanie Birkmann (New York), tax partner Benjamin Rogers (San Francisco), benefits partner Alexandra Alperovich (New York), real estate partner Peter Alpert (Boston), and labor & employment partner Megan Bisk (Boston).

The team also included private equity associate Todd Kornreich, finance associate Scott Rolnik, tax & benefits associates Aaron Lichter, Michael Stern and Christa Sanchez (all of New York), strategic transactions associate Steven Obiajulu (Chicago), real estate associate Peter Chatigny (Washington, D.C.), real estate counsel Owen LaFreniere, litigation & enforcement counsel Lee Gayer and litigation & enforcement associate Patrick Doherty and corporate associate Lauren Nickoloff (all of New York).