M&A

9 November, 2009

UPDATE 1-Berkshire to sell Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern

NEW YORK, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc will sell its stakes in the railroad companies Union Pacific Corp (UNP.N) and Norfolk Southern Corp (NSC.N) before it finishes its purchase of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp (BNI.N), BNSF's chief executive said.

Matt Rose, the chief executive, told employees of the No. 2 U.S. railroad operator of the planned sale in a conference call last Tuesday.

Earlier that day, Berkshire (BRKa.N) (BRKb.N) said it will buy the 77 percent of Fort Worth, Texas-based Burlington Northern it did not already own for roughly $26.4 billion.

BNSF filed a transcript of the call on Monday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Berkshire owned 9.56 million Union Pacific shares and 1.93 million Norfolk Southern shares on June 30, the last date for which data are available, another SEC filing shows.

It is unclear whether Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire has subsequently sold any of those shares. Berkshire did not immediately return a request for comment.

Shares of Union Pacific closed up 2 cents at $62.38, while Norfolk Southern shares fell 12 cents to $51.95. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; editing by Carol Bishopric)

Source: http://www.reuters.com