Canadian Pacific Declines to Increase Offer for Kansas City Southern -- Update
May 20 2021 - 10:06AM
Dow Jones News
By Cara Lombardo
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. said Thursday it won't increase
its takeover offer for Kansas City Southern, betting recent
setbacks for a higher offer from a rival make sweetening the bid
unnecessary.
It is now up to Kansas City Southern to decide whether to go
with a roughly $30 billion offer from Canadian National Railway Co.
and abandon a $25 billion deal it already agreed to with Canadian
Pacific. While Canadian Pacific has already received a key early
nod from the Surface Transportation Board, the panel, which
regulates railroads in the U.S., indicated this week that it needs
more details before ruling on Canadian National's offer.
Canadian Pacific had until later Thursday to alter its bid or
hold steady after Canadian National took the lead in the race to
acquire Kansas City Southern last week, when the U.S. railroad
declared the higher bid was likely to lead to a better deal.
That declaration came after Canadian National agreed last week
to add more stock to its proposal and cover the $700 million
breakup fee Kansas City Southern would owe Canadian Pacific for
walking away from their existing merger agreement.
Either deal would involve a two-step process. First, a voting
trust would acquire Kansas City Southern shares and, assuming
necessary approvals are received, whichever companies would then
merge. Both the use of a trust and the merger itself need approval
from the STB, which requires major railroad combinations to be in
the public interest and enhance competition.
While the STB already approved a voting trust as part of
Canadian Pacific's deal, it said last week that it was denying
Canadian National's request for now, without prejudice, since no
formal merger agreement had yet been filed. But language in the
decision also suggested the board would be more cautious in
granting a trust to Canadian National.
Should Kansas City Southern ultimately spurn Canadian Pacific in
favor of Canadian National, it is expected Canadian National would
refile its request with the Surface Transportation Board.
In its announcement Thursday, Canadian Pacific pointed to
comments the Justice Department filed with the STB saying the CN
proposal raises competition concerns that should prohibit the
company from using a trust. And on Tuesday, TCI Fund Management
Ltd., which holds a roughly 3% Canadian National stake and more
than 8% of Canadian Pacific, urged CN to drop its bid to avoid the
risk of the trust not being approved. Canadian National's largest
shareholder, Cascade Investments LLC, has said it supports the
bid.
Canadian Pacific had agreed in March to pay $275 a share --
0.489 of its shares and $90 in cash -- or about $25 billion.
Canadian National's latest bid is worth $325 a share, with each
share of Kansas City Southern receiving $200 in cash and 1.129
shares of Canadian National stock.
Write to Cara Lombardo at cara.lombardo@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 20, 2021 09:51 ET (13:51 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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