- RICHMOND, Va. (CBS.MW) -
A private equity group with interests in everything from soda pop to self-propelled
guns has nipped off a piece of CSX.
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- After the bell Tuesday, transportation giant CSX announced
that it would sell a majority stake in its domestic container shipping
unit -- CSX Lines -- to the Carlyle Group for approximately $240 million
in cash and $60 million in securities.
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- The deal, subject to regulatory approval, is expected
to close in the first quarter of 2003.
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- According to Michael Ward, CSX president, "completion
of this transaction is consistent with our long-stated strategy of becoming
a more rail-based organization, strengthens our balance sheet and provides
shareholders with significant value."
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- CSX Lines, which moves goods between the continental
United States and Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and Puerto Rico, accounted for about
8 percent of the company's $8 billion in revenues last year.
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- Shares of CSX (CSX: news, chart, profile) closed up 20
cents at $29.35 Tuesday.
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- The sale comes just days after CSX CEO John Snow was
tapped by the White House to be the new Secretary of the Treasury.
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- The Carlyle Group is headed by Frank Carlucci, former
secretary of defense in the Reagan administration. Other prominent players
at the private global investment firm include William E. Kennard, former
FCC chairman, Arthur Levitt, former SEC chairman, James Baker, III, former
secretary of state, and John Major, former prime minister of Great Britain.
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- Former president Bush has also lobbied Saudi Arabia on
behalf of Carlyle Group.
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- William Spain is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com in
Chicago.
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