Founding Partner & Chief Investment Officer

Josh is the Founding Partner of Connor Capital SB, which focuses on equity investments in transportation and transportation-related companies.  For over 25 years, Josh has been a leader within the transportation industries, having been an investor, key strategic advisor, lender, and leading banker to many transportation companies around the world. This experience, valuation expertise, corporate access, and deep relationship network within the transportation sectors give Connor Capital a unique competitive advantage when evaluating and investing in transportation and transportation-related companies and in adding value to those companies as an investor.

Josh has led the team on over ten investments that Connor Capital has made since its creation.  Josh currently serves on the board of directors of Watco Companies, Frontier Airlines, Copa (Airlines) Holdings (NYSE: CPA) and U.S. Rail & Logistics. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Neighborhood Property Group, and had previous board roles with
Ports America and Industrial Rail. Mr. Connor is a managing director and co-portfolio manager of Oaktree’s Infrastructure Investing strategy, specializing in the transportation sector. 

Prior to founding Connor Capital in 2016, Josh was a Managing Director and the Co-Head of the Industrials Banking Group at Barclays, a position he was appointed to in October 2013. In this role, he was responsible for the firm’s coverage of corporate industrial clients across a diverse range of industries, including Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Building Products, Capital Goods, Engineering & Construction, Environmental & Waste Management, Paper & Packaging, Steel & Metals and Transportation. Under his leadership, the Barclays industrials platform was a top-five banking franchise. Josh was also a member of the firm’s Investment Banking Operating Committee. Before being promoted to run the Industrials Group, Josh served as Global Head of Transportation Banking at Barclays, which became a top-three global franchise under his leadership. He joined Barclays in 2011 from Morgan Stanley, where he spent 15 years as a transportation banker and was Co-Head of Morgan Stanley’s Transportation & Infrastructure Investment Banking Group. Under his leadership, Morgan Stanley consistently had the leading global advisory and capital market positions within the transportation sectors. He was also a member of the Morgan Stanley Investment Banking Management Committee and was on the Board of Trustees for the Morgan Stanley Foundation (Finance/Investment Committee).

Josh is a graduate of Williams College, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. He is a Trustee of the Laguna Blanca School, a former Trustee of the Pingry School and a Board member of Youth, I.N.C., a New York City-based non-profit.

Selected Transactions

Aviation:
• Investor in three airlines
• US Airways / American Airlines (strategic advisor to US Airways in merger)
• Continental / United merger (strategic advisor to Continental)
• Northwest / Delta merger (strategic advisor to Northwest)
• JetBlue IPO, Convertibles, EETCs, Follow-On Offerings & Sale of LiveTV
• Ryanair (Ireland) IPO and Follow-On Offerings
• Frontier Airlines (advised Republic in sale to Indigo)
• Qantas (Australia): Lead financing effort for TPG/APA (private equity group) bid in 2007; several Qantas financings and strategic assignments
• GOL (Brazil) IPO, Follow-On Offerings, Perpetual Bond and Senior Notes Offerings
• COPA Airlines (Panama) IPO and Follow-On Offerings
• Tiger Airways (Singapore) IPO and Secondary Offerings
• Pegasus Airlines (Turkey) IPO
• Wizz Airlines (Eastern Europe) IPO

Rail:
• Led 2018 initial and subsequent investments in Watco Holdings
• Led 2020 creation and investment in Industrial Rail
• Led 2021 investment in U.S. Rail & Logistics
• Sale of RailAmerica
• Sale of FreightAustralia
• Pre-privatization assignment for FreightCorp (Australia)
• Sale of Florida East Coast Industries
• Kansas City Southern: purchase of TFM (largest railroad in Mexico), several strategic assignments and financings
• Panama Railway recapitalization
• Canadian Pacific spin-off, several strategic assignments and financings
• Conrail sale to Norfolk Southern and CSX
• Many financings for other Class 1 railroads (BNSF, Norfolk Southern, CSX, Canadian National, and Union Pacific)

Logistics/Technology/Other: • Led four Connor Capital investments in Loadsmart (digital freight brokerage leader) • Led investment in REEF Technologies and creation of Neighborhood Property Group
• Invested in UBER (2015)
• Sale of Fritz to UPS
• Merger of Circle with Eagle Logistics
• Sale of CNF Worldwide
• Sale of Geologistics Air Services to FedEx
• FTAI (Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure) IPO
• UPS IPO, several strategic assignments, and multiple financings