The CN-KCS merger, if approved, will combine CN’s approximately 32,000 kilometers of track through Canada to the Gulf of Mexico with KCS’s 11,000-kilometer rail network, connecting farms in the US Midwest with Mexico.
Railroad freight companies US Railroad Kansas City Southern, of the United States, and Canadian National (CN), of Canada, announced on Friday a merger agreement that aims to create the first train that will connect Canada, the United States and Mexico. .
The CN-KCS merger, if approved, will combine CN’s approximately 32,000 kilometers of track through Canada to the Gulf of Mexico with KCS’s 11,000-kilometer rail network, connecting farms in the US Midwest with Mexico.
Information of interest: Business climate in Latin America improves due to the rise in raw materials
The agreement was unanimously adopted by the boards of both companies, according to a joint statement.
Canada’s top freight forwarder offered $ 33.6 billion for KCS, beating the $ 29 billion offer from competitor Canadian Pacific (CP).
The Montreal-based company also sought to prevent CP, which had announced a deal with KCS in March, from establishing itself in the United States.
“We are delighted with this merger with CN,” KCS President Patrick Ottensmeyer said in a statement.
“We are delighted that KCS has agreed to join forces with CN to create the first railway of the 21st century,” said Jean-Jacques Ruest, director of CN.
The merger has not yet been approved by KCS shareholders or regulatory authorities in the United States and Mexico and could take at least a year, depending on the companies.
For more information: Excavations in the Amagá tunnel culminate
CP, which expressed doubts that a CN-KCS merger would obtain the necessary regulatory approvals, refused to outbid its competitor CN.
However, he said he was “ready to re-engage with KCS” if the CN acquisition failed.
