All of you Lou Dobbs fans out there might be curious about what happened to one of the greatest travesties in American economic history — a proxy fight by an English hedge fund over board seats on CSX, an American railroad.
Apparently, The Children’s Investment Fund, the British group, and their Tory allies, 3G Capital Partners, may have won four of five board seats they sought at the June 25 shareholders meeting.
Yet, those seats are still being contested since several hundred million votes were cast and it is taking some time for them all to be tallied. There are lawsuits to consider. CSX has come after TCI, saying that it and 3G broke U.S. securities rules by not disclosing their intentions in time while picking up a large position in CSX.
Supposedly, the final tally will be reported July 25, but you shouldn’t hold your breath given all those votes.
What is interesting is that this proxy battle that so worried Dobbs and red-blooded, upstanding Americans everywhere appears to be a nearly complete victory for the foreign challengers. Apparently, plenty of decent American shareholders in CSX see a need for change. If the redcoats are coming, so be it.
(Redcoat image courtesy ciambue via Flickr, CC 2.0)
