Public Comment Period on Voting Trust for
Proposed CN-KCS Combination ends today
CALGARY, AB, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Canadian Pacific
Railway Limited (TSX: CP) (NYSE: CP) ("CP") today announced that
the entire North Dakota Congressional Delegation, consisting of
U.S. Senators John Hoeven and
Kevin Cramer and U.S. Rep.
Kelly Armstrong, submitted a letter
to the Surface Transportation Board expressing support for a
combination of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern.
The text from the letter written by the Delegation reads as
follows:
Martin J. Oberman
Chairman
Surface Transportation Board
395 E Street, SW
Washington, DC 20423
Dear Chairman Oberman:
We write to express our support for the proposed merger
agreement between Kansas City Southern (KCS) and Canadian Pacific
Railway (CP). We believe such an arrangement would serve the public
interest by opening new markets for commodities produced in states
served by CP, including North
Dakota. Thank you for your attention to this important
matter.
Canadian Pacific Railway is one of two Class I freight rail
providers in North Dakota, both of
which provide integral market access for much of North Dakota's commodity driven economy.
As a state rich with natural resources, including agricultural
products, crude oil, and others, producers in our state rely on
freight transportation to move their products to market.
Currently, shippers in North
Dakota have direct access to ports in the Pacific Northwest,
and thus much of Asia, through
rail transportation provided by both Canadian Pacific and
Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF). A KCS/CP merger would create
the first Class I railroad with track in Canada, Mexico, and the
United States, opening access to new markets for our State's
producers in Mexico, while also
providing a more direct route to markets in the Southern United States.
This in turn would increase competition and help our
agricultural producers continue to provide the highest quality,
lowest cost food supply in the world, while also contributing to
our nation's energy independence.
Further, a KCS/CP merger would preserve the competitiveness of
the rail industry among the limited number of Class I carriers
operating in the U.S. In fact, the proposed merger would remain the
smallest of the Class I railroads, promoting competition among
railways in the region and ensure railways provide efficient
service and competitive rates.
Again, thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Please do not hesitate to contact our offices should you require
more information or wish to discuss this matter further.
John Hoeven
U.S. Senator
Kevin Cramer
U.S. Senator
Kelly Armstrong
U.S. Congressman
Public Comment Period for CN Voting Trust
Now is the
time for stakeholders to voice their concerns about whether CN
should be able to lock in its anti-competitive plan to buy KCS via
a voting trust. Stakeholders can express their concerns directly to
the STB by filing before midnight today.
On Thursday, CP announced that grain and other shippers
across North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota have submitted letters to the STB
opposing CN and KCS' combination, its use of a voting trust, or
both.
In line with the public comment period for CN's proposed voting
trust, CP plans to file comments today, explaining why the public
interest costs of CN's proposed voting trust outweigh the
non-existent benefits. This public comment period, and the STB's
subsequent deliberations, will determine the course of competition
for U.S. railroading and North American commerce for the next 150
years.
Importantly, the STB has already approved CP's use of a voting
trust and affirmed KCS' waiver from the new rail merger rules it
adopted in 2001 because a CP-KCS combination is truly end-to-end,
pro-competitive, and the only viable Class 1 combination.
As previously announced, CP is continuing to pursue its
application process to acquire KCS so that the pro-competitive
CP-KCS combination can be reviewed by the STB and implemented
without undue delay, in the event KCS' agreement with CN is
terminated or CN is otherwise unable to acquire control of KCS.
For more information on the benefits of a CP-KCS combination and
the risks that a CN-KCS transaction would pose to the railway
industry and North America, visit
FutureForFreight.com.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND INFORMATION
This news release includes certain forward-looking statements
and forward looking information (collectively, FLI). FLI is
typically identified by words such as "anticipate", "expect",
"project", "estimate", "forecast", "plan", "intend", "target",
"believe", "likely" and similar words suggesting future outcomes or
statements regarding an outlook. All statements other than
statements of historical fact may be FLI.
Although we believe that the FLI is reasonable based on the
information available today and processes used to prepare it, such
statements are not guarantees of future performance and you are
cautioned against placing undue reliance on FLI. By its
nature, FLI involves a variety of assumptions, which are based
upon factors that may be difficult to predict and that may involve
known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors which
may cause actual results, levels of activity and achievements to
differ materially from those expressed or implied by these FLI,
including, but not limited to, the following: changes in business
strategies and strategic opportunities; estimated future dividends;
financial strength and flexibility; debt and equity market
conditions, including the ability to access capital markets on
favourable terms or at all; cost of debt and equity capital;
potential changes in the CP share price; the ability of management
of CP, its subsidiaries and affiliates to execute key priorities;
general North American and global social, economic, political,
credit and business conditions; risks associated with agricultural
production such as weather conditions and insect populations;
the availability and price of energy commodities; the effects
of competition and pricing pressures, including competition from
other rail carriers, trucking companies and maritime shippers in
Canada and the U.S.; North
American and global economic growth; industry capacity; shifts in
market demand; changes in commodity prices and commodity demand;
uncertainty surrounding timing and volumes of commodities being
shipped via CP; inflation; geopolitical instability; changes in
laws, regulations and government policies, including regulation of
rates; changes in taxes and tax rates; potential increases in
maintenance and operating costs; changes in fuel prices; disruption
in fuel supplies; uncertainties of investigations, proceedings or
other types of claims and litigation; compliance with environmental
regulations; labour disputes; changes in labour costs and labour
difficulties; risks and liabilities arising from derailments;
transportation of dangerous goods; timing of completion of capital
and maintenance projects; sufficiency of CP's budgeted capital
expenditures in carrying out CP's business plan; services and
infrastructure; the satisfaction by third parties of their
obligations to CP; currency and interest rate fluctuations;
exchange rates; effects of changes in market conditions and
discount rates on the financial position of pension plans and
investments; trade restrictions or other changes to international
trade arrangements; the effects of current and future multinational
trade agreements on the level of trade among Canada and the U.S.; climate change and the
market and regulatory responses to climate change; anticipated
in-service dates; success of hedging activities; operational
performance and reliability; regulatory and legislative decisions
and actions; public opinion; various events that could disrupt
operations, including severe weather, such as droughts, floods,
avalanches and earthquakes, and cybersecurity attacks, as well as
security threats and governmental response to them, and
technological changes; acts of terrorism, war or other acts of
violence or crime or risk of such activities; insurance coverage
limitations; and the pandemic created by the outbreak of COVID-19
and resulting effects on CP's business, operating results, cash
flows and/or financial condition, as well as resulting effects on
economic conditions, the demand environment for logistics
requirements and energy prices, restrictions imposed by public
health authorities or governments, fiscal and monetary policy
responses by governments and financial institutions, and
disruptions to global supply chains.
We caution that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive
and is made as of the date hereof. Additional information about
these and other assumptions, risks and uncertainties can be
found in reports and filings by CP with Canadian and U.S.
securities regulators. Reference should be made to "Risk Factors"
and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition
and Results of Operations - Forward-Looking Statements" in CP's
annual and interim reports on Form 10-K and 10-Q. Due to the
interdependencies and correlation of these factors, as well as
other factors, the impact of any one assumption, risk or
uncertainty on FLI cannot be determined with certainty.
Except to the extent required by law, we assume no obligation to
publicly update or revise any FLI, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise. All FLI in this news
release is expressly qualified in its entirety by these cautionary
statements.
ABOUT CANADIAN PACIFIC
Canadian Pacific (TSX: CP) (NYSE: CP) is a transcontinental
railway in Canada and the United States with direct links to major
ports on the west and east coasts. CP provides North American
customers a competitive rail service with access to key markets in
every corner of the globe. CP is growing with its customers,
offering a suite of freight transportation services, logistics
solutions and supply chain expertise. Visit www.cpr.ca to see the
rail advantages of CP. CP-IR
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content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/north-dakota-congressional-delegation-submits-letter-to-stb-supporting-a-canadian-pacific-combination-with-kansas-city-southern-301320715.html
SOURCE Canadian Pacific