St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • A10

TUESDAY 10.23.2018 A10 1 BY THOMAS BLACK Bloomberg Billionaire investor Carl Icahn agreed to sell St. Charles- based American Railcar In- dustries for $1.34 billion, quintupling his investment as a freight boom spurs a re- bound in demand for rail equipment. Icahn Enterprises agreed to sell the maker of tank and hopper cars at $70 a share, 51 percent above its closing price on Oct. 19, to a subsidiary of hedge fund ITE Management. The deal is valued at $1.75 bil- lion including debt, American Railcar said Monday.

Rail carloads are climbing as the robust U.S. economy drives freight demand and a shortage of truck drivers pushes some cargo to trains. Orders for freight cars jumped 35 percent to 23,788 in the sec- ond quarter from a year earlier, according to the Railway Sup- ply Institute. It was the big- gest quarter for rail-car orders since the end of 2014. This year, American Railcar appointed John as president and CEO.

look forward to working with the ITE team to continue to im- prove our business and grow in the years to said in a statement. sale marks a retreat from a previous attempt to consolidate the rail-equip- ment industry after he ac- quired a majority interest in American Railcar in 2010. He took a 10 percent stake in Greenbrier Cos. in 2012 and began negotiations for Ameri- can Railcar to buy the compet- itor. Greenbrier rejected sev- eral ers, and Icahn eventu- ally walked away.

His invest- ment vehicle agreed to sell its interest in American leasing operation almost two years ago to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. in a deal valued at $3.4 billion. Icahn Enterprises said the investment in American Rail- car has generated a total return of 423 percent. He stepped down as chairman of the com- pany in 2014. deal meanwhile puts American Railcar back in the hands of ITE partner Jim Unger.

He founded American Railcar, was chief executive cer for 14 years until 2009 and left the following year as executive vice chairman. its current railcar lease fleet of nearly 14,000 railcars and the foundation of its manufacturing and re- pair businesses, we are excited about partnering with the ARI team to support continued growth of the Unger said in a statement. willingness to pay such a high premium will probably give a boost to other rail-equipment makers, in- cluding Greenbrier and Trin- ity Industries, said Bascome Majors, an analyst at Susque- hanna Financial Group. The deal is seen a con- structive signal toward both valuation of publicly traded peers and the view of the rail-car Majors said in a note to investors. American Railcar jumped 51 percent to $70 Monday, the highest since the shares be- gan trading in 2006.

Ameri- can Railcar had gained 11 per- cent this year through Oct. 19, while the Russell 3000 Rail- road Equipment index climbed 6.7 percent. The purchase is expected to close this quarter, subject to customary conditions. The Post-Dispatch contributed to this report. Icahn unloads St.

Charles freight rm for $1.3 billion American North Kansas City repair shop. When your best-selling product is made of bamboo, China is a logical place to get it. Unfortunately for Anji Moun- tain, a Maryland Heights company, President Donald Trump is waging a trade war with China and seem to care how many American businesses get hurt along the way. Anji Mountain gets about half its revenue from a bamboo oor mat, designed for use under a rolling of- fice chair, that is an example of American ingenuity. It was invented and patented by Darryl Gold, who founded Anji Mountain in 2003 to sell home and ce products made from sustainable materials.

The mat is sold through Office Depot, Staples and other retailers. Gold retired a couple of years ago and sold the business to his son, Jeff Gold, and son-in-law, David Moons. The company employs 11 people, and its prospects looked good until last month. when Trump imposed tar- iffs on $200 billion worth of Chi- nese products, including the bam- boo mats. The tari are 10 percent now and go to 25 percent in January.

is obviously very challeng- ing for says Moons, the com- president. trying to build aggressive growth plans around other products, but po- tentially having to walk away from something that is the lifeblood of the company is very sobering and very In previous rounds of tari the government established a process for importers to ask for an exclu- sion. With the latest round, the third in an escalating battle with China, it offered no such path for relief. Moons says both Missouri sena- tors, Democrat Claire McCaskill and Republican Roy Blunt, sup- port his efforts to get some sort of hearing. McCaskill sent a letter last week urging U.S.

Trade Repre- sentative Robert Lighthizer to give companies fair and transparent exclusion process to present their argument is simple: The bamboo in his floor mats is native to China, and the Chinese factory been working with for a decade is the only place in the world that knows how to make them. In their own letter to Lighthizer, Moons and Jeff Gold say a 25 per- cent price increase would cause immediate and disastrous decline in while absorbing the tar- iff without a price increase would eliminate Anji profit margin and the product un- implemented, this 25 percent increased duty would have a sub- stantial and adverse effect on Anji business and employ- their letter says. Daniel Ikenson, a trade policy expert at the Cato Institute, can think of a couple of reasons why the Trump administration er an exception process for this round of tari s. Its targets are mostly con- sumer goods, not industrial inputs, and Ikenson says cials view the 10 percent tariff as cost that businesses should be able to ab- unclear whether an exception process will be created before the tari goes to 25 percent in January. Lighthizer also may be trying to send a signal that serious about inflicting pain on China, even if U.S.

firms are hurt. am coming to the growing conclusion that the objective is to dis- courage American businesses from importing from China or setting up business there at Ikenson said. For Anji Mountain, pulling back from China might mean killing its most successful product. Before forced to make such a decision, Moons would at least like to make the case for an exemption. As it stands now, though, his bamboo mats look like just another piece of collateral damage in the trade war.

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