Activist Campaign At CSX And Arconic; Dissidents Choose Their Preferred Candidates

When an activist decides that a new CEO is the most effective lever of value creation, should they be responsible for determining who fills the role?

At both CSX and Arconic, two noisy current campaigns, the dissidents have chosen their preferred candidates. Perhaps in the case of CSX, if not as surely for Arconic, it would be fair to say that the thesis hangs entirely on the choice of CEO. Hunter Harrison, whom Paul Hilal’s Mantle Ridge has tapped for a repeat of his Canadian Pacific heroics, is after all, the embodiment of precision railroading. Elliott Management says merely that Larry Lawson, its choice to lead Arconic, “should be a leading candidate” for the job.