- Canadian National Railway's (NYSE:CNI) takeover bid for Kansas City Southern (KSU) appears to pose greater risks to competition than a rival deal with Canadian Pacific Railway (NYSE:CP), the U.S. Department of Justice says in a filing with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board.
- "A CN-KCS transaction poses additional dangers to competition stemming from the potential elimination of direct, 'parallel' competition on routes served by both railroads, for example between Baton Rouge and New Orleans," the DoJ says.
- CP Rail says it "concurs with the DoJ's objection to CN's application for proposed use of a voting trust on the grounds that a CN merger with KCS would pose greater risks to competition."
- "The DoJ's position is consistent with CP's assessment that CN's proposal is illusory and offers unattainable value to KCS shareholders."
- Kansas City Southern yesterday accepted CN Rail's $33.6B takeover offer as "superior" to CP Rail's previous $29B deal.