CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Domestic-shipping company CSX Lines LLC will have a new owner and new name, but its headquarters will remain in Charlotte, the Charlotte Observer reported.
Its parent company is selling a majority stake of the largest domestic shipper to a Washington investment group, the companies said Tuesday.
The Carlyle Group will pay $240 million in cash and $60 million in securities in the new company for the stake, estimated between 80 percent and 90 percent.
The Carlyle Group said it plans to grow CSX Lines and change the name to Horizon Lines LLC.
CSX Lines, which employs 50 in Charlotte, operates 17 vessels between the continental United States and Alaska, Guam, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. It employs about 1,600.
CSX Corp., which will retain between 10 percent and 20 percent of CSX Lines, has been selling its non-railroad-related assets the past few years. This is the Carlyle Group’s first shipping company.
Chuck Raymond will remain president and CEO of CSX Lines and also chair Horizon’s board of directors. Carlyle typically holds a company for about four years and then looks to sell it or take it public, said Carlyle spokesman Chris Ullman.