CN’s offer to keep gateways open on commercially reasonable terms is not getting the attention that it is due. This offer is a key part of its proposal to combine with Kansas City Southern—a transaction that significantly enhances competition.
CN and Kansas City Southern (KCS) have reported receiving an additional 100 letters in support of their proposed merger, bringing the total to more than 1,500.
Trends across the rail industry appear positive, although ongoing congestion is an issue for inland ramps, according to leaders at our recent “Suds with Seidl” event.
Sometimes in decision making, there isn’t much of a middle ground. Sometimes there is simply right and wrong. Such is the nature of the decision facing the Surface Transportation Board (STB) in the coming months as it addresses proposed railroad mergers. Their decision will have a very big impact on what the railroad industry will look like in the coming decades.
Per the Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) request, proposed merger partners CN and Kansas City Southern (KCS) have filed financial documents that will help STB decide whether or not to approve their voting trust agreement. Canadian Pacific, not surprisingly, responded with heavy artillery fire, with support from rail labor.
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) has directed proposed merger partners CN and Kansas City Southern (KCS) to submit by June 14 certain financial documents, which will inform public comments on their voting trust agreement.
Having been one of the three Surface Transportation Board (STB) Members who voted on the 2001 Major Merger Rules, it seems clear to me that the CN voting trust satisfies the new rules requirements addressing “unlawful control” and the “public interest” when deciding to approve or reject a voting trust. As such, it should be approved so that the Board and the public may move forward to consider the merits of the proposed transaction.
CN President and CEO JJ Ruest and Kansas City Southern President and CEO Pat Ottensmeyer discuss the two railroads’ pending merger in detail with Railway Age Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono. How confident
During what will most likely be the first of many joint appearances as their merger process progresses, CN President and CEO JJ Ruest and Pat Ottensmeyer, his counterpart at Kansas City Southern, said that their jointly filed voting trust application “meets the Surface Transportation Board’s public interest test under current merger rules.”
CN and Kansas City Southern (KCS) reported June 2 that they have received more than 400 letters of support for their proposed merger since KCS chose to partner with CN on May 21 over rival Canadian Pacific (CP).