KCS Teams With Commtrex to Boost Transloading, Efficiency
Kansas City Southern (KCS) has signed on with Houston, Tex.-based Commtrex to help connect shippers with its more than 100 transload facilities in the United States and Mexico.
Kansas City Southern (KCS) has signed on with Houston, Tex.-based Commtrex to help connect shippers with its more than 100 transload facilities in the United States and Mexico.
The Surface Transportation Board on Sept. 30 issued a decision essentially reaffirming that the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern voting trust, which it approved on May 6, 2021, still stands. STB’s decision was not unanimous, however, with Member Robert Primus voicing the lone dissent.
“I am elated for our CP family,” an understandably energized Canadian Pacific President and CEO Keith Creel told Railway Age Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono the day after a joint call with analysts with his
Kansas City Southern (KCS) will not operate its Holiday Express train for the second consecutive year due to the pandemic, but the Class I railroad is celebrating the program’s 21st anniversary with its fundraiser benefiting The Salvation Army.
Get used to the acronym “CPKC,” which stands for Canadian Pacific Kansas City, the name of the Class I railroad that will begin operations sometime within the next 18 to 24 months, provided the Surface Transportation Board approves—as many industry observers and analysts believe it will—the merger of the Canadian Pacific and the Kansas City Southern. The two railroads have circled back to pretty much the original merger agreement they announced on March 21, 2021, one month before CN began its attempt to wrest the deal away from CP with a higher bid.
RAILWAY AGE, SEPTEMBER 2021 ISSUE: Workforce management is evolving from paper-based record-keeping to cloud-based applications that improve efficiency and transparency.
RAILWAY AGE, FINANCIAL EDGE, SEPTEMBER 2021 ISSUE: For investors, industry watchers and rail consumers, August was either the most interesting or frustrating month to date in the reality dating show, “I Want to Buy a Class I Railroad.”
Surprise, surprise: On Sept. 4, 2021, four days after the Surface Transportation Board slammed the door shut on the CN-Kansas City Southern voting trust, effectively killing the proposed merger of the two Class I’s, the KCS Board of Directors has unanimously determined, after consultation with outside legal and financial advisors, that the “unsolicited proposal” received from Canadian Pacific on Aug. 31, 2021 to acquire KCS in a cash and stock transaction valued by CP at $300 per KCS share “could reasonably be expected to lead to a ‘Company Superior Proposal’ as defined in KCS’s merger agreement with CN.”
There’s an 800-pound British gorilla pounding on the door of CN’s boardroom. He’s pissed, beating his chest, and licking his chops. He’s not going away until he cleans house. He’s Sir Chris Hohn, and the activist hedge fund he leads, TCI Fund Management Ltd., on Aug. 30 became a “beneficial owner” of CN, grabbing 5.2% of the railroad’s shares, putting Hohn and his business partner, Ben Walker, in a position to make CN an offer it probably can’t refuse.
UPDATED SEPT. 3, 2021: The United States Surface Transportation Board—as expected by many industry observers and financial analysts—on Aug. 31, 2021, by unanimous vote, rejected the CN-Kansas City Southern voting trust, effectively killing the merger, and opening the door for Canadian Pacific to re-engage with KCS on the CPKC (“Canadian Pacific Kansas City”) deal it struck with KCS on March 21, albeit with a sweetened offer. KCS postponed its Sept. 3 shareholder meeting to vote on the CN offer until 9 a.m. (CT) on Sept. 24. It is now “evaluating its options,” which includes considering CP’s offer.