(R)-carnitine + hexadecanoyl-CoA = CoA + O-hexadecanoyl-(R)-carnitine Lipid metabolism; fatty acid beta-oxidation. Strong expression in heart and skeletal muscle. No expression in liver and kidney. This protein is produced by a bicistronic gene which also produces the CHKB protein from a non-overlapping reading frame. Belongs to the carnitine/choline acetyltransferase family.