Chester County daily news business briefs worth noting:

SEPTA Makes Big Regional Rail Line Investment

SEPTA, according to The Inquirer, plans to spend up to $154 million for 18 new Regional Rail electric locomotives to replace eight aging engines operating on the Lansdale-Doylestown, Paoli-Thorndale, Trenton, and Wilmington-Newark lines.

The new engines, similar to the Amtrak locomotive involved in last week’s North Philadelphia Amtrak derailment, are expected to be delivered in 2018 and is the regional transportation authority’s biggest railroad acquisition in a decade. In addition to the new locomotives, The Inquirer reports, SEPTA also plans to acquire 45 bi-level railcars to increase capacity on the same regional rail lines.

“The new SEPTA locomotives,” notes The Inquirer, “are part of the transit authority’s increased spending on new vehicles and major construction enabled” by ACT 89 state transportation funding passed in 2013.

Bank of America Sells Coventry Mall Branch

Philadelphia Business Journal reported Wednesday that Pittsburgh-based FNB Corp., parent to First National Bank of Pennsylvania, agreed to acquire Bank of America’s Coventry Mall Financial Center branch in Pottstown.

The branch acquisition is part of a five branch, $7.7 million dollar deal between the two banks and is expected to close in the third quarter.

The acquisition marks the latest move by the Pittsburgh-based bank to move east having acquired Harrisburg’s Legacy Bank in 2006, Centre County-based Omega Financial Corp. three years later in 2008, and Comm Bancorp Inc., based in Clarks Summit, Lackawanna County.

Safeguard Ups Its Investment in Montgomery County Retail Software Company

Wayne-based private equity and venture capital firm, Safegard Scientific (NYSE:SFE) reported it had pumped an additional $5 million dollars into Clutch, an Ambler-based firm that sells “consumer intelligence” software platform to retailers.

According to a story earlier this week in Philly.com, Safeguard’s investment boosts total venture capital funding to date to $14.4 million.  Clutch will use the money to hire 5-7 marketing, sales and development employees in the next 12 months adding to the 45 employees Clutch employes in Ambler and the Netherlands.

Vishay Receives Prestigious Supplier Award

Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. (NYSE: VSH) announced late last week the Malvern-based manufacturer and supplier of discrete semiconductors had received three Delphi Automotive PLC (NYSE: DLPH) 2014 Pinnacle Awards for Supplier Excellence in recognition for the company’s manufacturing operations in Israel, Taiwan, and Heide, Germany.

The Delphi award recognizes a select group of the United Kingdom firm’s premier suppliers for their contribution to Delphi’s excellence culture and commitment to quality, value, and cost performance. Vishay was one of 33 Delphi suppliers from 16 countries to receive the annual award, now in it’s 11th year.

Thomasnet.com quoted Vishay Vice President Peter Williams saying, “We are extremely proud to receive these three awards from Delphi. Our relationship with Delphi is very important to us, and we look forward to continued cooperation in the future.”

Liberty Property Trust Plans DC Office Building Divestiture

The Washington Business Journal reported last week that Malvern-based Liberty Property Trust (NYSE: LPT) plans to shed Presidents Park in Herndon, VA and one building in the Westfields Corporate Center in Chantilly, both in suburban Washington DC.

The properties, according to WBJ, were both a large piece of the professional office portfolio that gave Liberty a major presence in the D.C. region when it acquired the properties in 2007.

The divestiture, notes WBJ, is in line with industry trends to shed non-core properties. Liberty Chief Investment Officer Mike Hagan said on a recent earnings call, the company is targeting between $525 million and $625 million in sales this year.

As of the end of 2014, Liberty Property Trust owns 106 million square feet of industrial and office space in 20 markets across the United States and the UK.