LAKE OSWEGO, Ore., June 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Greenbrier
Companies, Inc. (NYSE:GBX) and Tokyo-based MUL today completed agreements to
expand their existing commercial relationship in North America consistent with the parties'
Memorandum of Understanding announced in April. MUL intends to grow
its portfolio from 5,000 railcars to a total of 25,000 railcars
over the next four years. As part of these growth plans, MUL
has entered a multi-year purchase commitment for 6,000
newly-manufactured railcars from Greenbrier, with deliveries
commencing during the fourth calendar quarter of 2017 and
continuing through 2020. Further, MUL will obtain all its
newly-manufactured railcars exclusively from Greenbrier through
2023. In addition to the new equipment ordered, over the next
several years, MUL will supplement its portfolio growth through a
combination of lease syndications and used equipment originated and
owned by Greenbrier. The combined value of these transactions
exceeds $1 billion.
The parties have also formed MUL Greenbrier Management Services,
LLC, a new railcar management services entity owned 50% by each
company that will solely manage all railcars in the MUL
fleet. Greenbrier will receive continuing fee income related
to the ongoing railcar asset management services provided for the
MUL fleet.
"Greenbrier is pleased to extend its business relationship with
MUL with these recently signed agreements and the formation of MUL
Greenbrier Management Services. This expanded relationship with MUL
demonstrates our earned reputation of providing tailored solutions
to our customers. We take pride in the series of transactions we
have completed with our friends at MUL and look forward to our
continuing work together," said William A.
Furman, Chairman and CEO.
MUL President & CEO Tadashi
Shiraishi said, "MUL has set an ambitious target to increase
MUL's market share to a level that places it among North America's top 8 leading operating
lessors of railcars. We value Greenbrier's ability to build
high-quality freight railcars and assist MUL with high-value
railcar management services to support MUL's rapidly expanding
fleet."
About Greenbrier
Greenbrier (www.gbrx.com), headquartered in Lake Oswego, Oregon, is a leading
international supplier of equipment and services to freight rail
transportation markets. Greenbrier designs, builds and markets
freight railcars in North America,
Latin America and Europe. We
also build and market marine barges in North America. We
manufacture freight railcars in Brazil through a strategic partnership in
which we hold a majority interest and produce rail castings through
a separate Brazilian partnership. Greenbrier also has a majority
stake in Greenbrier-Astra Rail, an end-to-end, Europe-based freight railcar manufacturing,
engineering and repair business. Through our European manufacturing
operations, we deliver U.S.-designed tank cars to Saudi Arabia. We are a leading provider of
wheel services, parts, leasing and other services to the railroad
and related transportation industries in North America and a supplier of freight
railcar repair, refurbishment and retrofitting services in
North America through a joint
venture partnership with Watco Companies, LLC. Through other joint
ventures, we produce rail castings, tank heads and other railcar
components. Greenbrier owns a lease fleet of over 8,000 railcars
and performs management services for over 266,000 railcars.
About MUL
Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance Company Limited (MUL) is a
prominent global leasing company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MUL, incorporated in
April 1971, focuses on leasing,
installment sales, various types of financing, and international
business. MUL's principal shareholders are Mitsubishi Corporation,
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. MUL is publicly listed on the
Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Nagoya Stock Exchange.
As one of the industry's leading companies, MUL's business
extends beyond conventional leasing and finance, with the company
offering a wide variety of services including eco-and
energy-related services, real estate, medical and long-term care
services, overseas market-entry support, used equipment trading
business and global asset business.
"SAFE HARBOR" STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION
REFORM ACT OF 1995: This press release may contain
forward-looking statements, including any statements that are not
purely statements of historical fact. Greenbrier uses words
such as "anticipates," "believes," "forecast," "potential," "goal,"
"contemplates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "projects," "hopes,"
"seeks," "estimates," "strategy," "could," "would," "should,"
"likely," "will," "may," "can," "designed to," "future,"
"foreseeable future" and similar expressions to identify
forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements
are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from the results contemplated by the forward-looking
statements. Factors that might cause such a difference
include, but are not limited to, reported backlog and awards that
are not indicative of Greenbrier's financial results; uncertainty
or changes in the credit markets and financial services industry;
high levels of indebtedness and compliance with the terms of
Greenbrier's indebtedness; write-downs of goodwill, intangibles and
other assets in future periods; sufficient availability of
borrowing capacity; fluctuations in demand for newly manufactured
railcars or failure to obtain orders as anticipated in developing
forecasts; loss of one or more significant customers; customer
payment defaults or related issues; policies and priorities of the
federal government regarding international trade and
infrastructure; sovereign risk to contracts, exchange rates or
property rights; actual future costs and the availability of
materials and a trained workforce; failure to design or manufacture
new products or technologies or to achieve certification or market
acceptance of new products or technologies; steel or specialty
component price fluctuations and availability and scrap surcharges;
changes in product mix and the mix between segments; labor
disputes, energy shortages or operating difficulties that might
disrupt manufacturing operations or the flow of cargo; production
difficulties and product delivery delays as a result of, among
other matters, costs or inefficiencies associated with expansion,
start-up, or changing of production lines or changes in production
rates, changing technologies, transfer of production between
facilities or non-performance of alliance partners, subcontractors
or suppliers; ability to obtain suitable contracts for the sale of
leased equipment and risks related to car hire and residual values;
integration of current or future acquisitions and establishment of
joint ventures; succession planning; discovery of defects in
railcars or services resulting in increased warranty costs or
litigation; physical damage or product or service liability claims
that exceed Greenbrier's insurance coverage; train derailments or
other accidents or claims that could subject Greenbrier to legal
claims; actions or inactions by various regulatory agencies
including potential environmental remediation obligations or
changing tank car or other railcar or railroad regulation; and
issues arising from investigations of whistleblower complaints; all
as may be discussed in more detail under the headings "Risk
Factors" and "Forward Looking Statements" in Greenbrier's Annual
Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2016 and Greenbrier's Quarterly Report
on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended February 28, 2017, and Greenbrier's other reports
on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers
are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements, which reflect management's opinions only as of the date
hereof. Except as otherwise required by law, Greenbrier does
not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking
statements.
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SOURCE The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (GBX)