Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. made a new, higher bid for Kansas City Southern, looking to derail the U.S. railroad’s pending merger with rival Canadian National Railway Co. ahead of an important shareholder vote less than two weeks away, Bloomberg News reported. The offer is $300 a share, Canadian Pacific said in a statement Tuesday, or about $27 billion in equity value. While that’s higher than its original $25 billion bid from March, the new price doesn’t match the $30 billion deal that Kansas City Southern’s board accepted from Canadian National in May.
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Canada
Talks under a mediator’s watch continued late Thursday between Canada and the union representing its border agents to head off a labor action starting Friday that threatens the flow of U.S.-Canada trade and a plan to allow American tourists to visit for the first time in 16 months, the Wall Street Journal reported. The two sides agreed to work with a mediator ahead of a 6 a.m. Eastern time Friday deadline set by the union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
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A Calgary-based law firm, on behalf of all Canadian cities and municipalities, has filed an objection to Purdue Pharma L.P.'s multibillion-dollar bankruptcy proposal that would compensate U.S. cities, counties, states and Native American tribes for damages related to the opioid crisis while leaving out Canadian jurisdictions. The case will be heard in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on August 9.
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Canada’s economy sprang back to life at the end of the second quarter, as vaccine-led reopenings spurred a return to growth, Bloomberg News reported. Canada’s economy sprang back to life at the end of the second quarter, as vaccine-led reopenings spurred a return to growth. Last month, broad-based reopenings across the country allowed businesses to resume operations after months of shutdowns. As a result, high-contact sectors returned to growth, along with manufacturing, according to Statistics Canada. Canada’s currency was little changed, trading at C$1.2432 per U.S. dollar at 9:21 a.m.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is stepping in to aid a long-delayed, over-budget hydroelectric project in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Bloomberg News reported. The Canadian government will buy an equity stake in the Muskrat Falls project and provide debt guarantees as part of a “multi-billion dollar” financial restructuring agreement with the Atlantic province, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Tuesday evening, without providing specific amounts. Muskrat Falls’ estimated cost has soared to more than C$13 billion ($10.3 billion), nearly double the early projections.
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Bridging Finance Inc., the private lender that was seized by Canadian regulators amid an investigation of its top executives, has drawn interest from a “broad range” of potential bidders, according to the firm managing its affairs during the probe, Bloomberg News reported. PricewaterhouseCoopers said Friday it will soon seek court approval for a sales and investor solicitation process to market some or all of Bridging’s assets, and that it has already received indications of interest from multiple parties. Bloomberg News reported on Thursday that funds managed by BlackRock Inc.
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Within the U.S., cannabis is now legal in 16 states including Washington, D.C., with legalization taking effect in two more states, Virginia and New Mexico, later this year, Mondaq reported. This state-level trend toward legalization in the U.S. continues even though cannabis remains illegal at the federal level. However, in Canada, cannabis has been legal at both the federal and provincial levels since 2018. The opening of these markets has generated significant investment on both sides of the U.S./Canadian border.
Canada on Monday said it will begin to ease pandemic restrictions at the U.S./Canada border next month, allowing U.S. citizens and permanent residents living in the U.S. who are fully vaccinated with Canadian-authorized vaccines to enter for nonessential travel without quarantining, The Washington Post. The decision, which takes effect Aug. 9, follows months of criticism from U.S.
Canadian companies are on track to sell a record volume of bonds in their own currency this year, taking advantage of low rates to refinance and fund post-pandemic investments, Bloomberg News reported. Almost C$78 billion ($52.5 billion) has been issued already this year, more than 70% of the record C$111 billion sold in all of 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Bankers expect a new high, despite a slower pace through year-end as borrowers shift from stockpiling liquidity to rightsizing balance sheets and protecting ratings.
The Bank of Canada on Wednesday held interest rates steady and reduced its bond-buying program, saying the economy needed less help as it recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, but warned that inflation would be higher than previously forecast in the near-term, Reuters reported. The central bank said economic growth should pick up in the third quarter of 2021 after being weaker than expected in the first half of the year.
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