Surface Transportation Board Approves CP-KCS Merger

(RTTNews) - The Surface Transportation Board has approved the acquisition of Kansas City Southern Railway Company (KSU) by Limited (CP), but with few conditions.

The approval includes an unprecedented seven-year oversight period and contains many conditions designed to mitigate environmental impacts, preserve competition, protect railroad workers, and promote efficient passenger rail.

The Board also anticipates the merger will result in improvements in safety and the reduction of carbon emissions.

In September 2021, Canadian Pacific Railway agreed to acquire Kansas City Southern in a stock and cash transaction representing an enterprise value of about $31 billion, which included the assumption of $3.8 billion of outstanding KCS debt.

Kansas City Southern had terminated merger agreement with Canadian National Railway Company (CNR.TO, CNI) and entered into a merger agreement with CP.

In October 2021, CP and KCS filed their merger application with the Board. Since that time, the Board has received nearly 2,000 comments and other filings and held a seven-day public hearing.