Washington District of Columbia - A pair of railroad competitors want to slow down the proposed combination of Kansas City Southern and Canadian Pacific.
 
The moves come after KCS and CP formally filed an application on 29 Oct 2021 to combine as part of a US$31 billion transaction.
 
After the filing, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) published a timeline for accepting public comment and examining the combination.
 
While even a combined KCS and CP would be the smallest of the nation's Class I railroads, it would be the only railroad with a network spanning Canada, the U.S., and Mexico.
 
BNSF Railway contends in a filing that this transcontinental network deserves more than a 60 day period for public comment, train.com reports.
 
BNSF contends that the regulator needs to carefully examine what the combination could mean for competition in Mexico and see if special conditions should be imposed on three KCS interchanges with Mexico.
 
"As far as the application is concerned, conditions in Mexico are a black box," BNSF stated in its filing.
 
Also asking for a more deliberative review process is CN.
 
The request is notable, since CN previously sought a speedy review when it looked to be the winning bidder for KCS.
 
CN said in its filing that KCS and CP filed their application to merge operations too early, and that the review timeline should be stretched out, according to train.com.
 
Aside from regulators, KCS and CP must put their combination before shareholders.
 
CP has scheduled a shareholders meeting for 8 Dec 2021 with a meeting of KC Southern shareholders to take place two days later.
 
CP's bid would pay US$90 in cash and 2.884 shares of its own stock for each share of KC Southern stock.
 
The company also will assume US$3.8 billion in KCS debt.
 
Author unknown.