Veteran Favored for CSX Helm Could Push For A Major Makeover

The installation of the veteran executive is a real possibility, given he has teamed up with an ex-Pershing Square activist, Paul Hilal, to target the Jacksonville, Fla.-based railroad

Author:: Edward Hardy
Publish date:: Feb 16, 2017 7:23 AM EST

Last month Hunter Harrison stepped down from his position as CEO of Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) - Get Report to join Mantle Ridge, a newly formed activist fund led by Paul Hilal.

An ex-partner at activist fund Pershing Square Capital Management, Hilal mostly engineered a spectacularly successful insurgency in 2012 at CP that installed Harrison as CEO, orchestrating a turnaround there that led CP's Toronto-based shares to climb nearly 190% in his tenure.

Together Hilal and Harrison are targeting CSX, which on Tuesday evening said it was calling a special shareholder meeting to seek guidance from investors about whether to support Mantle Ridge's proposals. The activist fund wants six seats on a reconstituted 14-person CSX board and Harrison in as CEO. Also, the activists want three incumbent directors to resign at the 2017 annual meeting and one more to step down in 2018.