Monday, February 20, 2006

Carlyle Group involved in port security deal

MM&P-contracted CSX Lines, the US-flag container shipping subsidiary of CSX Inc., will be sold to the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm based in Washington, DC for $300M. The acquisition will give Carlyle control over the nation's largest Jones Act container fleet and will add to the company's growing transportation portfolio.

CSX Lines will be renamed Horizon Lines LLC, when the transaction is completed early next year pending regulatory approval. CSX Lines is the nation's largest ocean transport company, with 17 US-flag vessels and 22,000 containers, providing ocean transportation and logistics services to and from the US, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

Carlyle's other maritime holdings include Seabulk International, formerly Hvide Marine, which owns and operates 10 Jones Act tankers in the Gulf of Mexico. Through United Defense Industries, Carlyle controls United States Marine Repair, the nation's largest non-nuclear ship repair and conversion company.

Carlyle Group is a politically-connected global private equity firm with reportedly more than $13.9 billion under management. The company's directors and advisors include former President George H.W. Bush, former British Prime Minister John Major, and former Secretary of State James Baker. IBM Chairman Louis Gerstner is slated to become chairman of Carlyle on January 7, replacing former Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci.

John Snow, the CEO of CSX, was appointed Treasury Secretary by the younger President Bush last week. The current CSX Lines President and Chief Executive Charles Raymond and his management team will remain in place. Raymond will also serve as chairman of the board.

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