CFI, the first national independent rail operator and 92.5% controlled by the F2i infrastructure fund, has acquired from the De Girolamo family 90% of the capital of Lotras, a leading operator in the multimodal rail and road transport sector. The De Girolamo family, in the persons of the sole director Armando and his son Nazario, as well as remaining in the company’s capital, will continue to manage the business, guaranteeing continuity to a success story that began in the 1990s and continued with the redevelopment of the Incoronata (Foggia) terminal, which has led Lotras to become one of the reference players in the field of multimodal transport services with particular reference to the Adriatic axis.

The shareholders of Lotras were assisted in the transaction by Equita K Finance, the Italian member of Clairfield International and part of Equita group, which acted as financial advisor, by Russo De Rosa e Associati for the legal aspects and by the Di Michele law firm of Foggia for the accounting, tax and due diligence aspects.
CFI was assisted by the law firm Caporale & Associati for the legal and contractual aspects.

The deal with CFI, leveraging the entrepreneurial and managerial support of the De Girolamo family, aims to create an integrated entity capable of promoting and developing rail freight transport in Italy and Europe, exploiting, on the one hand the operational synergies with the railway company, and on the other hand expanding the offer of intermodal transport solutions generated by the interaction between the railway terminals of Incoronata (FG) and Villa Selva (FC) managed by Lotras and those of Fiorenzuola (PC) and Piedimonte (Frosinone) managed by CFI; to this is also the opportunity to interact with the port and airport terminals already managed by F2i with some of its subsidiaries.

Lotras is the leading national operator in the rail transport of grape derivatives and other liquid foodstuffs with a fleet of more than 200 owned wagons. In addition, it provides intermodal transport services including the innovative rail transport of semi-trailers, the so-called ‘rolling highway’, along the Adriatic axis, diverting the transport of thousands of tonnes of goods from road to rail and promoting the transition of goods movement towards more sustainable modes of transport that has always been one of the cornerstones of the entrepreneurial activity of Armando De Girolamo and his family. The company is also concessionaire of the railway terminal at Incoronata (Foggia) and manager of the one at Villa Selva (Forlì Cesena) and boasts a unique strategic position on the Adriatic axis for managing the flow of goods from the South to Northern Italy and Europe and vice versa.