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Judge OK’s Settlement|Over $26B Railroad Deal

(CN) - A Delaware judge approved a settlement putting to rest shareholders' concerns about the fairness of Berkshire Hathaway's $26 billion purchase of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.

Delaware Chancery Court Judge J. Travis Laster approved the settlement at a hearing Thursday in Wilmington, according to Bloomberg.

"It's a settlement that's reasonably easy to approve," the judge said.

Berkshire Hathaway, the Nebraska-based conglomerate holding company of legendary investor Warren Buffett, completed its purchase of the Fort Worth, Texas-based Burlington Northern in February.

Last November, it offered to buy the remaining 77.4 percent of the company it did not already own for $100 a share. At the time, Burlington Northern shares were publicly trading at about $76 a share.

It is the single largest acquisition Berkshire has ever made.

Laster also awarded $450,000 in legal fees and expenses, much lower than the $3.5 million requested. He said the application citing 2,400 hours of legal work in Delaware and Texas posed "a serious credibility stretch."

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