The US Railroad Kansas City Southern of the USA and Canadian National (CN) announced a merger agreement Friday aimed at creating the first train that will connect Canada, the United States and Mexico.
The CN-KCS merger, if approved, would combine approximately 32,000 km of the CN route through Canada to the Gulf of Mexico with the 11,000 km KCS railway network, which connects farms in the US Midwest with Mexico.
According to a joint statement, the agreement was approved unanimously by the boards of the two companies.
Canada’s largest shipping company offered $ 33.6 billion to KCS, topping the $ 29 billion bid from rival Canadian Pacific (CP).
The Montreal-based company also sought to prevent CP, which announced a deal with KCS in March, from establishing itself in the United States.
“We are pleased with this merger with CN,” KCS President Patrick Utensmeier said in a statement.
“We are delighted that KCS has agreed to join forces with CN to create the first railway line in the 21st century,” said Jean-Jacques Roest, Director of CN.
The merger has not yet been approved by KCS shareholders or regulatory authorities in the US and Mexico and could take at least a year, depending on the companies.
Expressing doubts that the CN-KCS merger will receive the necessary regulatory approvals, CP declined to bid on competitor CN.
However, he said he was “prepared to recommit to KCS” if the CN acquisition fails.
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