Activist hedgie Bill Ackman gave his February 6, 2012 Canadian Pacific proxy fight presentation, in which he details his case for a change of management which would unlock value at Canada's second largest railroad. Its a fascinating look inside the thinking process of one of this generation's most successful activist investors.
There is also a historical look at Ackman's past successes to serve as an indication of what is possible for the Canadian railroad, whose shares have traded at valuations well below its North American peers.
At the heart of his proxy fight, Ackman contends that Fred Green, current CEO is one reason the company has underperformed, and that Hunter Harrison, his nominee, would be a more suitable CEO, in leading a transformation of Canadian Pacific.
Among the factual arguments is this nugget:
"Canadian Pacific is 70% the size of Canadian National, yet has an enterprise value 40% as large, due to its inferior profitability and asset utilization."
Here in the slidedeck below is the complete presentation - fullscreen it for the better read, or download:
