Oaktree Capital Management LP’s Transportation Infrastructure Investing Group, one of the funds managed by the firm, has purchased a significant minority stake in Rand Logistics, a Great Lakes marine transportation company from American Industrial Partners. This newly formed strategic ownership group will combine AIP’s operationally oriented approach to portfolio management with the transportation sector perspective provided by Oaktree. Collectively, the group expects steady and stable growth across the company’s footprint, as it delivers bulk cargoes to industrial facilities across the Midwest.

“We are thrilled to partner with Oaktree as we work to realize our vision for Rand as the premier marine and logistics provider in the most important industrial region in the United States, and possibly the world,” said Jason Perri, partner of AIP and Rand’s chairman. “As one of the only infrastructure managers with a strategy dedicated exclusively to transportation assets, Oaktree is positioned to assist AIP and the Company in ushering Rand to its next stage of scale and growth, and cementing its position as one of the foremost U.S. and Canadian industrial infrastructure companies. We are excited to welcome them to the Rand team.”

“As part of our mandate to invest in highly defensible, essential transportation infrastructure businesses across the United States, we specifically identified Rand as the optimal Jones Act business for our portfolio. With connectivity to ports across the Great Lakes, we hope to drive connectivity with Watco, one of the largest short-line rail providers in the country, and another anchor investment in our portfolio,” said Emmett McCann, managing director and co-portfolio manager of Oaktree’s Transportation Infrastructure Investing strategy, who will be joining the Rand board. “Our enthusiasm for the investment was only strengthened by the opportunity to work alongside a world-class, operationally focused partner like AIP, who shares our values and outlook for growth.”