Castle Harlan Inc, a New York-based private-equity investment firm, has signed a definitive agreement to purchase Horizon Lines LLC, one of the largest container shipping companies in the United States. The price of the transaction was set at $650 million.
Based in Charlotte NC, Horizon owns 16 vessels and about 21,700 cargo containers that handle 37% of marine container shipments between the US mainland and ports in Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, and Puerto Rico. It is the only carrier serving all of those markets.
Horizon recorded revenues of more than $830 million in fiscal 2003, up 9.6% from the previous year.
Castle Harlan is acquiring Horizon from The Carlyle Group, a private-equity investment company based in Washington DC that bought the firm from CSX Corp in February 2003.
Castle Harlan’s portfolio companies, which employ more than 26,000 people, include Associated Packaging Technologies, a manufacturer of CPET containers for the frozen food industry; and AdobeAir Inc, a maker of evaporative coolers.