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US: The US Army takes aim at Canadian Railroad merger

By  |  April 7, 2016

The US Army said a Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. takeover of Norfolk Southern Corp. has the potential to harm national defense, adding opposition to a possible merger plan backed by billionaire investor Bill Ackman.

The Army told the Surface Transportation Board that it opposed Canadian Pacific’s plan to have Chief Executive Officer Hunter Harrison step down and become the head of Norfolk Southern as part of a voting trust structure before the regulator’s final approval of a merger. Canadian Pacific has asked the board to rule by May 6 if its voting-trust plan is permissible.

“We are troubled by the possibility that Mr. Harrison could become a senior executive at Norfolk Southern in advance of the board ruling in favor of common control/merger between Canadian Pacific and Norfolk Southern,” according to a letter from the Army. “If Mr. Harrison is a senior executive at NSR he may be placed in a position where he must make business decisions with potentially competing interests.”

Full Content: Reuters

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