Eastern Railroad Discussion > CSX and Mantle Ridge Capital LP

Mantle Ridge Capital LP is an investment firm which ousted the CEO of the CSX Corporation in 2017 and placed E. Hunter Harrison in control.  The investment firm offered an alternate list of directors, and the share owners of CSX agreed to replace several members of the Board.

The investment firm's assets are held by Mantle Ridge LP for pension funds, investment companies, college endowments, etc.  As part of the takeover of control, my recollection is Mantle Ridge  LP agreed to maintain a significant interest in CSX for five years.

CSX's shares have more than doubled in value since just before the takeover offer, from $36 to about $80.  According to February filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the investor now owns about 38 million shares of CSX. That's down about 4 million shares from the peak ownership, if I did the calculations correctly.  My recollection is Mantle Ridge LP agreed to hold a significant number of shares for five years (until 2022), but could sell up to 10% of its holding if it chose to to do so each year. That's roughly consistent with the SEC filing.

The $3 billion in remaining share value is hundreds of times the total investment of CSX management prior to the takeover.  When a substantial investor, or 5%, or senior manager buys / sells shares, that has to be reported.

Here's the SEC filing:  https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/own-disp?action=getowner&CIK=0001695459