Earlier this week, Standard & Poors announced Berkshire Hathaway Inc. will replace Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. on the S&P 500 stock index if Warren Buffett completes his buyout of the Class I, Progressive Railroading reported.
The announcement follows a 50-to-one stock split of Berkshire's Class B shares that was approved by the investment firm's stockholders last week. The share split provides Berkshire enough liquidity to meet the S&P's standards, according to Standard & Poors.
Berkshire would account for about 1.1 percent of the S&P 500's overall market cap value. On Feb. 11, BNSF shareholders will vote on the buyout, which calls for Berkshire to purchase the remaining 77.4 percent of BNSF shares it doesn't own for $100 per share. Berkshire and the Class I expect to close the transaction in the first quarter.
For more details and insights on the deal, follow this link to read the cover story ("Buffett & BNSF") in Progressive Railroading's January issue.
(The preceding article appeared on the Web site www.progressiverailroading.com on January 28, 2010.)
