Burlington Northern bid for Southland Royalty.

The Seattle-based railroad company said it was offering to buy all of the common stock of Southland Royalty, a Fort Worth oil and gas firm, for $17 a share in cash. The offer would potentially be worth about $729 million if all 42.9 million Southland shares were tendered. Burlington already owns 4.7% of Southland’s shares. In another development, Southland said its directors approved a plan to reorganize the company into a new limited partnership.