WASHINGTON — Ancora Holdings, which is leading an activist investor group that’s fighting a proxy battle to oust Norfolk Southern’s management, has responded to Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin J. Oberman’s request for a meeting about its plans for the railroad.
“We suggest a discussion with yourself and the continuing Board Members once we have had a chance to make public our 100-day and initial operating plan in accordance with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure requirements for investor communications. We expect those filings to be made by mid-April allowing us ample time to coordinate calendars ahead of the Norfolk Southern Annual Meeting,” Ancora Holdings Chairman and CEO Frederick DiSanto and Ancora Alternatives President James Chadwick wrote in a March 14 letter to Oberman.
Oberman sought a meeting with the Ancora executives more than a month ago, and in a letter to them this month said he was disappointed in their lack of a response.
The Ancora executives said they want to address criticism Oberman has leveled at what he and others have called Ancora’s short-term focus.
“Before we schedule this important meeting, we wanted to take a moment to address your recent comments because we believe our views and plans have not been accurately conveyed. We, along with our proposed director candidates and suggested management, have a deep understanding of how freight moves, and we are not advocating for the ‘same old corporate strategy,’” DiSanto and Chadwick wrote.
“We are advocating for a strategy that has no emphasis on headcount reductions or short-sighted tactics and has already had a profound impact on improving operating models and lowering accident rates in the railroad industry. This is in comparison to Alan Shaw and Norfolk Southern’s lax operating culture and associated lack of discipline that have translated into operational and safety deficiencies,” they added.
Ancora says it has a vision for the long-term success of NS.
The activist investors want NS shareholders to elect their slate of eight candidates, who then would have a majority of the board seats. They would replace Shaw with former UPS executive Jim Barber Jr. and appoint former CSX Executive Vice President of Operations Jamie Boychuk as Norfolk Southern’s chief operating officer.
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