U.S. Regulator Deals Canadian National Takeover Effort a Blow

The U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB) has dealt a blow to Canadian National Railway's (NYSE: CNI) effort to acquire Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU), ruling that the suitor's application to create a voting trust to help streamline the deal is incomplete, and determining any consideration of the proposed deal would be done under a tough set of merger rules. Canadian National last month launched a surprise $33.6 billion takeover effort for Kansas City Southern, looking to upend an agreement between the American rail line and Canadian Pacific Railway (NYSE: CP). Last week, Kansas City Southern's board officially determined that Canadian National's offer was superior to Canadian Pacific's $30 billion agreement, seemingly putting Canadian National in the lead to win the bidding war.