Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) acquisition of Kansas City Southern (KCS)
Canadian Pacific Railway completed its acquisition of Kansas City Southern on 12/14/2021 for cash and CP stock. Form F-4/A filed with the SEC on November 1, 2021, concerning this merger, can be found on the SEC EDGAR site at this URL :
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000016875/000119312521315658/d877235df4a.htm#rom877235_17
Important Reminders and Notes:
In Merger with cash transactions, realized capital gains and the cost basis of the new shares have a component dependent on the price per share chosen in the entry screens. In our experience brokers tend to use the price per share published by the companies on their websites in their guidance to shareholders. If the companies publish guidance with a share price, we use that share price in our instructions to minimize possible differences between the accounting records and broker information. In cases where no guidance is available, we will choose the lower of the opening or closing price on the effective date. Either of these prices is acceptable to the IRS and by choosing the lower price some realized capital gains will be deferred to a later date. There is always the chance the price we choose will not be the price chosen by your broker. The gain from the merger and cost basis of the new shares recorded in your accounting records will then differ from your broker information. Because of the lack of detail in the tax code, both our choice and your broker’s choice would be reasonable estimates of market value for the shares received. Your records are NOT incorrect because they differ from your broker. Tax return forms do have specific areas to report these usually small differences. Our tax printer software handles these adjustment entries automatically in the normal operation of the software.
Resolution: For Kansas City Southern shareholders this merger is a cash-plus-stock reorganization. Information for these instructions is from the form F-4/A filed with the SEC and websites offering historical stock prices.
Use the Merger with cash transaction.
Step 1
- Date – 12/14/2021
- Merging Company – KCS (Kansas City Southern)
Step 2
Be sure to choose the option Transaction is taxable to a maximum of the cash received.
- Cash per share received: 90.00
- Exchange ratio of new to old shares: 2.884
- Price per share of new shares on merger date: 69.62 (Opening price on 12/14/2021)
- Reorganization Fee: See your broker statement
- Symbol of New Company: CP
- Shares received and Price per Share should auto-fill from information above.
- Cash Received: See your broker statement for cash-in-lieu amount