DBRS Assigns Rating of “A,” Stable Trend, to Canadian National Railway Debt Issuance

DBRS Limited (DBRS) has today assigned a rating of “A” with a Stable trend to the $850 million Senior Unsecured Notes (the Notes) of Canadian National Railway Company (CN or the Company). Net proceeds of the Notes will be used for general corporate purposes, including redemption and refinancing of outstanding indebtedness and share repurchases.

The issuance consists of three tranches: $350 million 2.80% Notes due September 22, 2025; $400 million 3.95% Notes due September 22, 2045; and $100 million 4.00% Notes due September 22, 2065. The Notes will be direct, unsecured and unsubordinated obligations of CN and will rank pari passu with all other unsecured and unsubordinated indebtedness of the Company. The Notes were issued under the base shelf prospectus dated December 3, 2013, which allows for offerings of up to $3.0 billion of debt securities. The debt securities are pursuant to the Company’s July 12, 2013, trust indenture.

Notes:
All figures are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.

The applicable methodologies are Rating Companies in the Railway Industry (June 2015) and DBRS Criteria: Commercial Paper Liquidity Support for Non-Bank Issuers (April 2015), which can be found on our website under Methodologies.

This rating is endorsed by DBRS Ratings Limited for use in the European Union.