Bill Ackman - Date/Photographer unknown.

11 January 2012

Ackman and Other Investors Back Push for Management Change at Canadian Pacific

Editor's Note:  There's little new in this article except for one tidbit I've highlighted in bold below:
 
New York New York USA - The New York fund manager looking to oust the chief executive officer of Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. says other shareholders support his agenda.
 
"We believe it is the substantial majority of the owners of the company (who) are in favour of a change in management," Pershing Square's Bill Ackman said in an interview.
 
Pershing Square wants to replace CP CEO Fred Green with the former top executive of Canadian National Railway Co., Hunter Harrison.
 
Ackman, whose fund has spent more than US$1 billion to amass a 14.2 percent stake in the Calgary-based railway, said he has received calls from other major investors expressing support for the plan.
 
He added that Pershing Square has had a "limited number" of conversations so far, and intends to reach out more broadly to fellow shareholders.
 
Pershing Square disclosed earlier this week that it plans to try to shake up CP's board of directors. Ackman said that involves installing two directors from Pershing Square and likely between two and four independent directors.
 
"We're not looking to take control of the board," Ackman said.
 
In an interview with the Globe and Mail, Harrison expressed an eagerness to return to the corporate world following his retirement from CN in 2009.
 
"I feel like I can still make a significant contribution. If the opportunity presents it itself, I am ready to go," he said.
 
If Harrison takes the reins at CP, he would lose his pension at CN, a cost Ackman assumes CP would have to take on.
 
"It's not a material amount of money in the context of Canadian Pacific," he said.
 
In an open letter to shareholders this week, CP chairman John Cleghorn said the company is sticking by Green and that replacing him with Harrison was "not in the best interest" of the company.
 
"The board is working closely with management and monitoring the company's performance and will continue to hold CP's president and chief executive officer, Fred Green, and CP's senior management, fully accountable for delivering on the multi-year plan," Cleghorn said in the letter.
 
"This plan has been specifically designed to generate the best possible operational and financial results from CP's unique assets and circumstances."
 
Lauren Krugel.