THE president and CEO of Canadian Pacific Railway (CP), Mr Fred Green, will today mount a counterattack against a campaign to oust him by Mr Bill Ackman, CEO of a US hedge fund called Pershing Square Capital Management which has a 14.2% shareholding in CP. Ackman believes CP is under-performing - its operating ratio of 81.3% is the worst of the six North American Class 1 railways - and he wants to replace Green with former Canadian National CEO, Mr Hunter Harrison.
THE president and CEO of Canadian Pacific Railway (CP), Mr Fred Green, will today mount a counterattack against a campaign to oust him by Mr Bill Ackman, CEO of a US hedge fund called Pershing Square Capital Management which has a 14.2% shareholding in CP. Ackman believes CP is under-performing - its operating ratio of 81.3% is the worst of the six North American Class 1 railways - and he wants to replace Green with former Canadian National CEO, Mr Hunter Harrison.
CP will today outline a recovery plan to investors and analysts, while at the same time presenting a critique of what it describes as Pershing Square's misguided turnaround strategy. CP says its plans to improve efficiency are regarded as realistic by consultancy Oliver Wyman, while Pershing Square's targets are unrealistic.
"It's not the way one would want to proceed, but I think in light of the serious, serious flaws in the Pershing analysis, it's my responsibility to the CP shareholders to make sure that they understand they've been misinformed," says Green.
CP has twice invited Ackman to become a board member, but Ackman intends to propose his own team of six directors at CP's annual meeting on May 17.
