Ackman bails from CP board

Approximately one month after billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman dumped all his shares in Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. and walked away with an estimated $1.5 billion to pursue other ventures, he has resigned from CP’s Board of Directors.

CP on Sept. 6, 2016 announced Ackman’s resignation, effective immediately, and the appointment of two new directors, Jill Denham and William R. Fatt. Ackman initially had said that he would remain on the CP Board until the company’s next annual shareholder meeting, but instead chose to exit right away, saying that he is “confident that with CP’s superb management and strong governance, it will extend its remarkable track record into the future.”

Ackman “led the successful effort to install new board members and new management at CP in 2012 when the company was the worst-performing Class I railroad in North America,” CP said. “Since that time, CP has generated more than $14 billion in shareholder value and its share price has outperformed the S&P/TSX Composite by 120% through the end of 2015. During Mr. Ackman’s tenure on the board, CP transformed from railroading’s biggest laggard to one of the industry’s very best.”

It was Ackman who enticed Hunter Harrison out of retirement in 2012 and, following a proxy battle, installed him as CP’s CEO. The turnaround Harrison led at CP earned him Railway Age’s 2015 Railroader of the Year Award.

Jill Denham joins the CP board after a career spent in senior roles in the financial services industry. She was Vice Chair Retail Markets at CIBC (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce) from 2001 through 2005 and Managing Director/Head of Commercial Banking and E-Commerce at the bank from 1999 to 2001. Prior to that, Denham served CIBC overseas in London as Managing Director Head from 1995. She entered the financial services industry in 1983. Denham currently serves as Chair of the Board at Morneau Sheppell and at Munich Reinsurance Canada. She is also a board member at National Bank of Canada and Kinaxis Inc.

William R. Fatt joins the CP board after serving as Chairman and CEO of FRHI Hotels & Resorts from 1998 through July 2016. Prior to becoming CEO at FRHI, which was created from the merger of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts and Raffles Hotels & Resorts in 2006, Fatt was CFO at Canadian Pacific Ltd., parent company of Fairmont predecessor Canadian Pacific Hotels as well as CP’s operating company, Canadian Pacific Railway Co. Fatt currently sits on the board of the Jim Pattison Group and the Bank of Nova Scotia. Previously, he had served on the boards of Cadillac Fairview Corp., EnCana Corp., SunLife Financial Inc. and Enbridge Inc.

“The diverse experience and expertise these individuals bring to the CP board will have an immediate constructive impact,” CP Board Chairman Andy Reardon said. “They are committed to building on the successes and hard work of the past five years, which have positioned CP as an industry leader now and in the years to come.”