Ackman Should Look At Canadian Pacific's Peers For Explosive Returns

Reduce operating ratio to mid-60s by midyear 2016 Reduce workforce by 23% by 2016 – about 4,500 positions Strategic review of western portion of DM&E and D&H Increase average train length and weight by 30% Move headquarters to Ogden Yard north of Calgary in early 2014 Around mid-July, just weeks after Hunter Harrison took over as chief executive of Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd., the venerable railroader met with about

By Insider Monkey: Pershing Square's Bill Ackman is waging war against Canadian Pacific (CP).

Remember when U.S. hedge fund manager Bill Ackman railed against the cozy corporate culture of the Canadian establishment during his bruising proxy battle to unseat the blue-chip board at Canadian Pacific Ltd. last year? Recall his lament of how difficult it was to recruit candidates to join his activist campaign because folks were unwilling to “stick their necks out” when his New York-based firm Pershing Square Capital Management LP launched an assault to force the ouster of Fred Green, chief executive of one of this country’s most venerable and underperforming companies.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.’s decision to hire away a top Canadian National Railway Co. executive came with the hefty price in the form of an agreement not to hire roughly 60 of its rivals’ top marketing and operations executives through 2016. CP said Monday it had appointed CN’s chief operating officer, Keith Creel, as its new president, chief operating officer, and the likely successor to Hunter Harrison as its CEO.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. unveiled details of its dramatically reorganized structure Wednesday, centralizing the railroad’s planning under new chief executive Hunter Harrison but also aiming to empower frontline workers to react more quickly to operational challenges and improve relations with its customers. The unions representing CP’s workers, however, said they were still in the dark about where 4,500 job cuts, to come by 2016 under the plan, will fall.

By Insider Monkey: By Matt Doiron

Canadian Pacific Railway is planning to relocate much of its head office from downtown Calgary, union officials and a source close to the company said, under a restructuring plan that its new chief executive will detail to investors in early December. Chief Executive Hunter Harrison told U.S. union leaders and a Canadian union president that Canada’s second-biggest railroad will move employees out of its glass-towered headquarters as part of an ambitious cost-cutting plan.

By Streetwise Blog: By Tim Kildaze Here’s a brainteaser for you: Because Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (CP) has underperformed its rivals for so long, did shareholders really need an activist to show them the light?