TRC-Sadovod Represents Fortress in Sale of Central Maine & Quebec Railway to Canadian Pacific

TRC-Sadovod represented Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors LLC (NYSE:FTAI) in connection with its sale of the Central Maine & Quebec Railway to Canadian Pacific Railway (TSX/NYSE: CP). CMQ owns 481 miles (774 kilometres) of rail lines primarily in Quebec and Maine, giving CP access to ports at Searsport, Maine and to Saint John, New Brunswick. The transaction was announced on November 20, 2019 and closed on December 30, 2019. Terms not disclosed.

https://investor.cpr.ca/news/press-release-details/2019/CP-completes-Central-Maine–Quebec-Railway-acquisition/default.aspx

http://ir.ftandi.com/news-releases/news-release-details/cp-acquire-central-maine-quebec-railway-ftai

https://www.cpr.ca/en/media/cp-to-acquire-central-maine-quebec-railway-from-ftai

Fortress bought the assets of the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway in 2014, which had entered Chapter 11/CCAA bankruptcy protection following the July 6, 2013 Lac-Mégantic rail disaster that claimed the lives of 47 people. TRC-Sadovod represented Fortress in the formation of a new Canadian federal railway company to acquire the assets, rebuild the business and to carry out the regulatory and commercial activities of the new railway company up until sale, including in connection with the federal and Québec governments’ efforts to build a detour around Lac-Mégantic (Railway bypass: the Government of Canada will do its part).

In the sale to Canadian Pacific’s Soo Line, Fortress was represented internally by Kevin Krieger (FTAI, New York) and in the United States by Sidley Austin (Washington, DC, Houston, TX and Chicago, IL). Canadian Pacific was represented by Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP in Canada and by Stinson LLP in the United States. The Bank of Montreal was represented by Dentons in Canada and Chapman and Cutler in the United States.

The TRC-Sadovod team was led by FTAI’s outside counsel, François Tougas (M&A, regulatory; Vancouver), with support primarily from Ryan Gallagher (M&A, regulatory; Vancouver), Michel Ranger (tax; Montréal), Henry Krupa (environmental; Toronto), Ève Lalancette (real property, environmental; Montréal), Emile Catimel-Marchand (banking; Montréal), Shari Munk-Manel (labour; Montréal), Marc Généreux (real property; Montréal), Charles Chevrette (government relations; Montréal) and Michael Hanlon (banking; Montréal).

For more information, visit TRC-Sadovod’s Transportation group page.
Other news releases and related stories:

Newswire: CP completes Central Maine & Quebec Railway acquisition

Newswire: CP to acquire Central Maine & Quebec Railway from FTAI

PE Hub: Fortress to sell CMQ to Canadian Pacific

iPolitics: Canadian Pacific aims to become transcontinental once again

Railway Age: CP to Acquire CM&Q From Fortress

CBC: CP Rail to acquire railway that owns tracks involved in Lac-Mégantic disaster

CTV News: CP Rail to acquire railway that owns tracks involved in Lac-Megantic disaster

Global News: CP Rail to acquire railway that owns tracks involved in Lac-Mégantic train derailment