Jacksonville’s two biggest companies may or may not make headlines on their own next year, but both are sure to be the subject of widespread speculation.
This year ended with renewed talk about consolidation in the railroad industry, despite regulatory hurdles that would make a merger involving the seven largest North American railroads difficult, including CSX Corp.
However, the CEO of one of the other seven, Hunter Harrison of Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd., recently suggested Jacksonville-based CSX is “in play.” While CSX says it is not for sale, merger speculation, largely driven by Harrison, will likely be continuing into 2016.
Meanwhile, Southeastern Grocers, the holding company for Winn-Dixie and two other supermarket chains, will definitely be on the move next year. The company is relocating its corporate headquarters from Winn-Dixie’s longtime Westside facility to Baymeadows.
However, Southeastern Grocers could make a bigger splash if 2016 is the year it goes public again. The company owned by private equity investor Lone Star Funds filed plans for an initial public offering in September 2013 but withdrew its registration in August 2014.
Southeastern Grocers has more than $10 billion in annual revenue, which would qualify it as another Jacksonville-based Fortune 500 company. But because it doesn’t file public financial reports, it is not included in the list of largest companies in the U.S.
One sizable company headquartered in Northeast Florida will likely become public in 2016. ADS Waste Holdings Inc., the parent company of Advanced Disposal, filed its IPO plans in August but has not set a date for its stock sale.
ADS, headquartered in Nocatee in St. Johns County, is not nearly as big as CSX or Southeastern Grocers but reported revenue of $1 billion in the first nine months of this year.
While ADS plans to go public, at least one Jacksonville-based company will go private. Shareholders of APR Energy plc are scheduled to vote on a buyout by private investment firms in the first week of January.