An activist hedge fund that waged a grueling proxy fight with CSX Corp. last year has sold all of its shares in the rail company, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
The Childrens Investment Fund Management sold $17.8 million shares of stock for prices ranging from $28.39 to $30.09 per share. The selling of its 4.5 percent stake in the company follows TCI Managing Partner Christopher Hohns announcement that he wouldnt run for re-election this year.
He said he would focus on the business interests of the London-based hedge fund, which has suffered in the recession. TCI and 3G Capital Partners Ltd. were able to seat four members on the board.
CSX CEO Michael Ward previously said meeting with the four new board members from two rival hedge funds has been very collegial and constructive.
The new members and old members are more focussed on what steps the company needs to take in an unsteady economy and still stay dynamic, said Ward.
The board recently agreed to invest $1.6 billion this year in infrastructure, which the hedge funds originally protested.
A year after proxy fight, TCI sells off its CSX shares
(The following story by Mark Basch appeared on the Florida Times-Union website on April 24, 2009.)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. The Childrens Investment Fund Management LLP, which waged a high-profile proxy fight with CSX Corp. last year, has sold off all of its shares in the Jacksonville-based railroad company, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
The filings show that TCI, a London-based hedge fund, sold 17.8 million shares of CSX stock this week at prices ranging from $28.38 to $30.09 per share. TCIs 17.8 million shares represented a 4.5 percent stake in CSX.
TCI and another hedge fund, 3G Capital Partners Ltd., nominated five new members last year to CSXs board of directors, with four of them winning seats on the board after a long battle with CSX management.
But TCI has been focused on its own problems this year, with several top executives leaving the company. TCI Managing Partner Christopher Hohn, who was one of the four nominees to win election to CSXs board last year, decided not to see re-election this year so he could spend more time managing his business interests. The other three TCI-3G nominees are seeking re-election at CSXs May 6 annual meeting.
Although TCI sold off all of its CSX shares this week, Hohn still owns 5,150 shares of the company himself, according to the SEC filings.
