By Rick Romell, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Mar. 3--Wisconsin Central Transportation Corp. shareholders will vote on the proposed purchase of the company by Canadian National at a meeting April 4.
The meeting is set for 9 a.m. at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare, 9300 West Bryn Mawr Ave., Rosemont, Ill.
The deal would pay $17.15 in cash for each share, or about $800 million. The board has recommended approval. Wisconsin Central has almost 2,000 stockholders and 46.4 million shares outstanding.
Stockholders also may vote by telephone (1-877-779-8683) or the Internet (http://www.eproxyvote.com/wclx) until 11 p.m. Central time on April 3. Abstentions have the same effect as voting against the purchase.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin Central and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers said Friday that members of the union had ratified a two-year amendment to their original 1999 contract. The agreement includes a 3.5 percent wage increase retroactive to Jan. 1, and 3 percent effective Jan. 1, 2002.
The union represents more than 300 locomotive engineers and trainmen throughout Wisconsin Central's U.S. system. The agreement doesn't apply to employees of the company's Algoma Central Railway subsidiary in Canada.
Wisconsin Central operates 2,850 miles of track in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Ontario. The railroad has 2,200 employees.
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(c) 2001, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
WCLX, CNI,
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