TRANSPORTATION

Santa Fe May Try Leveraged Buyout: The Schaumburg, Ill.-based railroad, hoping to defeat a hostile takeover bid by Union Pacific Corp., is reportedly assembling a leveraged buyout that could help complete a merger with Burlington Northern Inc. Santa Fe Pacific Corp. would not comment on the report in the Journal of Commerce, although the LBO is a familiar tactic for the railroad. Burlington Northern and Union Pacific have made competing offers worth more than $3 billion each to acquire the parent company of Atcheson, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co. A leveraged buyout is Santa Fe’s latest move to fend off Union Pacific. Its argument that the government would not allow the combination fell apart after regulators approved an independent trust for Santa Fe.