TRACKING A MERGER
Oct. 4, 1983: Southern Pacific Co. and Santa Fe Industries agree to combine their non-rail assets.
Dec. 23, 1983: The merger of Southern Pacific Co. and Santa Fe Industries is consummated, creating the Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corp. Southern Pacific Transportation Co. is placed into a voting trust so that it will operate independently while the Interstate Commerce Commission considers the merger of the two railroads.
March 23, 1984: A 24-volume application to merge SP and Santa Fe Railway is filed with the ICC.
Oct. 1, 1984: Public hearings on the application begin in Washington.
July 24, 1986: After 28 months, 78 days of public hearings and thousands of pages of legal briefs, the commission votes 4-1 to reject the merger for anti-competitive reasons. SP remains a voting trust.
Oct. 10, 1986: The ICC issues a 200-page written document reaffirming its July 24 decision.
March 6, 1987: After earlier filings, SFSP asks the ICC to officially reopen the case.
June 30, 1987: The ICC votes 4-1 against reopening and gives SFSP 90 days to submit a plan to divest itself of one or both of its railroads.
Aug. 4, 1987: In its written decision denying the reopening, the ICC says SFSP failed to prove anything had changed since the merger was first rejected more than a year earlier.
Sept. 4, 1987: SFSP says it plans to divest Southern Pacific.
Oct. 16, 1987: SFSP announces that it has received seven offers--ranging from $750 million to over $1 billion--to buy SP.
Dec. 28, 1987: SFSP announces an agreement to sell SP to Rio Grande Industries for about $1.8 billion--$1.02 billion in cash plus SP’s outstanding debt.
Feb. 12, 1988: The ICC adopts a 180-day schedule to consider the proposed sale.
Feb. 22, 1988: RGI files an application with the ICC to acquire SP. It notes that the combination of the Denver & Rio Grande Western and Southern Pacific railroads complies with the ICC’s determination to promote competition.
July 27, 1988: Oral arguments on RGI’s application are held before the ICC in Washington.
