CP proposes business combination to Norfolk Southern
A proposed merger between Canadian Pacific and Norfolk Southern Corp. would create a transcontinental railroad designed to vastly improve levels of service to customers and communities. — Photo courtesy Norfolk Southern/Canadian Pacific
Canadian Pacific (TSX:CP) (NYSE:CP) today announced that it has sent an offer letter to Norfolk Southern Corp. (NS) proposing a business combination that would create a transcontinental railroad with the scale and reach to deliver improved levels of service to customers and communities while enhancing competition and creating significant shareholder value.
The proposal, which includes a sizable premium in cash and stock offered to NS shareholders, would result in a company with the potential for faster earnings growth than either CP or NS could achieve on their own, all the while maintaining a strong investment grade credit rating.
CP strongly believes that the combined railroad would offer unparalleled customer service and competitive rates that will support the success of the shippers and industries it serves, and satisfy the U.S. Surface Transportation Board and Canadian regulators.
Among the combined company's key innovations is a new approach to terminal access that would change the status quo in U.S. rail transportation. In the event the new company failed to provide adequate service or competitive rates, it would allow another carrier to operate from a point of connection over the combined company's tracks and into its terminals, providing an unprecedented alternative to the affected shipper.
In addition, the new company would give shippers the choice of where they can connect with another railroad along its network, bringing an end to the practice of "bottleneck pricing" to a large number of shippers in the U.S. while further enhancing competition.
Furthermore, a combination would alleviate the long-standing issue of congestion in Chicago, which seized into gridlock in the winter of 2014 and hobbled economic growth. By channeling rail traffic away from Chicago, CP would create fluid routes through under-utilized hubs and free up much-needed capacity for other railroads that pass through the city, providing them with new, efficient and competitive service options for their own customers.
In short, a combined CP/NS would create capacity for all shippers without creating the need for more infrastructure.
An efficient end-to-end freight shipment solution will also improve safety, reduce highway congestion, and allow the rail industry to play an even greater role in the revival and sustained recovery of the North American economy.
CP hopes the NS executive leadership team and the Board of Directors give this offer due consideration, and looks forward to a thoughtful dialogue on creating a new industry leader.
Proposal letter from CP CEO Hunter Harrison to NS CEO Andrew Reardon:
We believe that combining our two great organizations will allow us to form an integrated transcontinental railroad with the scale and reach to deliver unsurpassed levels of safety and service to our customers and communities while also increasing competition and creating significant shareholder value.
We propose a 50% cash 50% stock transaction based on Friday's closing stock price for both CP and NSC in which NSC shareholders would receive $46.72 in cash and 0.348 shares of stock in a new company which would own CP and NSC. The new company would be listed on both the New York and Toronto Stock Exchanges, and maintain a strong investment grade credit rating. Our proposal represents a substantial initial 23.0% premium to NSC's 45-day VWAP of $79.14.[1] In addition to providing NSC shareholders with a significant cash payment, the proposed transaction will provide NSC shareholders with an opportunity for meaningful upside appreciation in the future as synergies are realized as NSC shareholders will own 41% of the new company.
Our advisors at J.P. Morgan have assisted us in valuing the newly merged company by taking into account future operating performance, synergies, expected earnings power and anticipated trading multiples. In light of the substantial synergies created by the combination, we believe that the fair value of the new company would be approximately $270.68 per share at the time of transaction closure—which is assumed to occur on December 31, 2017. As a result, NSC shareholders will receive at that time $46.72 in cash plus $94.16 in market value of the stock of the combined company which on a present value basis at the time of the anticipated announcement (March 31, 2016) is expected to represent total value of $126.18 per share—which is a 59.4% premium to NSC's 45-day VWAP of $79.14. In addition, NSC shareholders would continue to receive a dividend of $0.59 per quarter during the pendency of the regulatory review of the transaction.
This proposal to NSC shareholders has the following additional potential benefits:
- Creates transcontinental rail network connecting the major industrial production and population centers across North America
- Global reach through premier ports located across the U.S. Gulf, Atlantic and Pacific North American coasts
- Integrated operations across at least 4 major rail gateways
- Enhances service offering to shippers
- Combines two premier railroads with exceptional safety records
- More than US$1.8 billion in annual operating synergies achieved over the next several years
- Substantial tax savings in addition to operating synergies
- Up to 45% pro forma EPS accretion with run-rate synergies
- Strong balance sheet, targeting mid BBB rating with approximately 4 times debt / EBITDA, and significant operating cash flow to deleverage to target leverage of 2.5 times within 2.5 years
- Collaborative Surface Transportation Board regulatory process
- Financing commitment of US$14.2 billion from J.P. Morgan Securities LLC
Moreover, as our combined network creates more comprehensive end-to-end shipment solutions for our customers while reducing congestion in key corridors such as Chicago, network capacity will expand allowing us to improve service and lower costs—which is both pro-shipper and pro-competition. A combined network will also lead to faster growth for the new entity versus what either of us would be able to achieve on our own and, importantly, would create a larger, more diversified book of business less dependent on volatile commodities such as crude oil or thermal coal.
Finally, the United States and Canada would benefit from having an end-to-end shipment solution that improves safety, reduces highway congestion, improves service, lowers cost and increases overall freight capacity (which is vital to support expanded economic growth) behind an environmentally friendly form of transportation funded exclusively with private versus public expenditures.
Certainty of consummating such an historic combination will be critical for both of us. To that end, we have worked extensively with our lead transaction counsel Simpson Thacher and our United States and Canadian regulatory counsel of Stinson Leonard Street and Bennett Jones, respectively, to confirm not only the feasibility of the proposed transaction but also our plan to ensure a smooth and expeditious review and approval process. We have also engaged the services of J.P. Morgan Securities LLC which has issued a "highly confident letter" regarding our ability to finance the proposed transaction—which will not be subject to a financing contingency attached as Exhibit A.
This proposal, which has received the unanimous support of our Board of Directors, is a non-binding expression of our current views, which remains, among other things, subject to satisfactory completion of due diligence, the negotiation, execution and delivery of mutually satisfactory definitive agreements, approval of the definitive agreements by your and our Boards of Directors, approval of the transaction by your and our shareholders, and receipt of customary regulatory approvals.
We are ready to begin working with you and your team immediately on this transformational opportunity and are prepared to commit whatever resources may be necessary to complete the proposed transaction expeditiously and in a manner which both recognizes and fairly addresses any social considerations related to the successful integration of our two great companies.
