HOUSTON -- Raul Pedraza, the president and founder of Magno International, LP, was on hand Monday afternoon at Minute Maid Park to offer support as one of the investors in the group led by longtime friend Jim Crane, who signed a purchase agreement with Drayton McLane Jr. to buy the Houston Astros.
Pedraza served in the U.S. Army until 1982 before returning home to Miami to start a single truck pickup and delivery operation, which grew into one of Southern Florida's most prominent logistics service providers that reached sales of $40 million annually.
After selling his business to EGL Eagle Global Logistics in 1998, Pedraza joined its executive management team and played a critical role in helping the company grow into a $3.3 billion sales organization.
What is Pedraza's connection to Crane?
“I’m an investor in Crane Worldwide Logistics," Pedraza said. "I own my own firm, Magno International. Jim and I go back to before when it was Eagle. I owned my own company called the Eagle and he owned his own company called the Eagle. We put both of them together in 1997, and we’ve had a great run."
When Crane began negotiating with McLane and Allen & Company's Steve Greenberg a while back to purchase the Astros, he called Pedraza and wanted him to be part of his investment group.
“Jim basically gave me a call and said, ‘Look, I’m doing this. I want you to participate,'" Pedraza said. "I said not yes, but hell yes.
"That’s basically how it went."
Pedraza, who grew up in a small town in Florida, admits being a minority owner of the Houston Astros represents a dream come true.
"Yes, it's absolutely a dream come true," he said. "I told Jim last night that this is like when I got my first glove growing up and I was conditioning it with rubber bands and a ball in the middle of it, with a little oil and stuff. That's exactly how I feel right now. It lights up my face. I'm a kid from a small town in Florida. Come on, it's like the biggest thing that could have happened."
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