Abstract
After a frustrated attempt of merging occurred in 1888 between the Companhia Rio Claro and Companhia Paulista, the Companhia Estrada de Ferro Rio Claro's founder, Baron of Pinhal, sold the railway to an English group of investors. A short period later, at the stockholders” Assembly at October 31 of 1891, the Companhia Paulista de Estradas de Ferro decided to buy The Rio Claro—São Paulo Railway Company for the amount of £2,775,000. The aim of the present paper is to investigate which were the consequences of such an acquisition for the financial performance of the Companhia Paulista between 1892 and 1903. In that sense, we seek to investigate the effects of that transaction on the railway capital of São Paulo through an analysis of the reports that were presented to the stockholders of the Companhia Paulista and of the ideas contained in the book História da Viação Pública de São Paulo by Adolpho Pinto, Chief Engineer of Companhia Paulista between 1888 and 1924.