An open battle for control of the Canadian Pacific (CP) Railway has broken out with a leading shareholder demanding to replace current CEO Fred Green with former Canadian National Railway CEO Hunter Harrison, who is fighting for the job its incumbent wants to keep.
“We think the board has chosen the wrong CEO,” Mr Harrison told a Toronto audience of 400 shareholders, reported The Canadian Press. “The result is the worst railroad in North America.”
At the Toronto meeting, organised by leading shareholder Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square, a New York hedge fund, Mr Harrison told shareholders they had to re-evaluate CP’s strategy because the current operation of the railway “is the wrong place to put your energy”.
Mr Ackman’s Pershing Square holds the biggest share of CP at 14.2 per cent, said he had held the meeting to outline how and why five new directors should and could be elected to seize control of the CP board at its AGM in May.
In response, CP issued a statement: “Pershing Square continues to offer no plan or clear timetable to improve CP’s operations, or even concrete suggestions. As part of its evaluation, that CP replace its chief executive officer with Hunter Harrison, the board took into account the fact that CP’s multi-year plan is well underway and producing results.
“Based on the presentation made, and the remarks made by Bill Ackman, chief executive officer of Pershing Square, Mr Harrison and Pershing Square’s director nominees, it appears that Pershing Square still has no plan or clear timetable to improve CP’s operations,” said the CP statement.
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