Standard & Poor's, a subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies (MHP), said that Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B) will replace Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (BNI) in the S&P 100 and S&P 500 indices on a date to be announced. Burlington Northern Santa Fe is being acquired by Berkshire Hathaway in a deal expected to close next month, pending final approvals.
In November, Burlington Northern Santa Fe announced a definitive agreement for Berkshire Hathaway to acquire for $100 per share in cash and stock the remaining 77.4% of outstanding BNI shares not currently owned to increase its holdings to 100%. Based on the number of outstanding BNI shares, including shares currently owned by Berkshire, on November 2, 2009, this transaction is valued at approximately $44 billion, including $10 billion of outstanding BNSF debt.
According to the agreement, each share of BNSF common stock would be converted into either a cash payment of $100.00 or a variable number of shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class A or Class B common stock. Up to 60% of the deal is cash while 40% would be in stock.
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