norfolk southernRailroad giant Norfolk Southern has booked Joele Frank for financial PR support as it rejects takeover overtures from Canadian Pacific.

CP has revised a November offer and proposed a voting trust structure to segregate the companies as the deal receives regulatory scrutiny, allowing CP to pay Norfolk shareholders cash before closing, although the per-share price actually declined from the earlier bid.

Norfolk dismissed a previous CP bid as "grossly inadequate," and this week shot down a revised proposal as "not only less than what the Norfolk Southern board has already found to be grossly inadequate, it is even more uncertain and risky given the decrease in cash consideration."

Both companies are publicly traded with Norfolk based in Virginia and CP headquartered in Calgary.

Joele Frank brass including Joele Frank, Dan Katcher and Andrew Siegel are repping Norfolk Southern, which released a white paper Dec. 7 by former Surface Transportation Board commissioners saying regulatory approval could take nearly two years and would be unlikely with the proposed voting trust.

CP calls the offer a "transformational opportunity."

Martin Cej is assistant VP for PA and comms. for CP.