Ancora Accelerates NS [Norfolk Southern] Takeover Attempt - Railway Age
Ancora Accelerates NS [Norfolk Southern] Takeover Attempt - Railway Age
Ohio-based Ancora Holdings Group LLC, with affiliates and other participants—collectively called the “Investor Group”—on Feb. 20 launched a formal takeover attempt of Norfolk Southern, announcing eight prospective board members, a new CEO
From the document: “The bottom line is that it is time to actually move Norfolk Southern forward. Moving ahead starts with identifying the right destination. Our slate and proposed management team believe they have the experience and strategy required to turn Norfolk Southern into a safer, more sustainable railroad that is growing profitably while also yielding more stability for customers and employees. As shown in our presentation, this is a far cry from where Norfolk Southern stands today under Mr. Shaw and his loyal backers in the boardroom. In the coming weeks, we look forward to sharing a second presentation that focuses on our 100-day transition plan and the details of our reliable network strategy that will leverage Norfolk Southern’s existing assets and people to get the organization to the right destination. We will show that a better day is in reach—one that includes enhanced value for customers, communities, employees and shareholders.”
I was slightly confused because the Dutch national railway is also called NS.
Nederlandse Spoorwegen
You are right... title updated for clarity.
Me too aha
title clarified, my apologies. It was copied from the article verbatim.
As much as the praising of Precision Scheduled Railroading is annoying to me and reads like a pacifier for money-hungry shareholders, the promise of putting safety back to the top of the priority list and putting more rail and transportation experience into management seems good.
They're full of shit. It's a short-term boost to stock price via slashed operational costs. They'll bail as soon as the momentum starts to derail. Improving safety doesn't start with reducing maintenance resources. Precision railroading is a scam that investors buy into because it sounds good on paper, but keeps proving to be a disaster when all the minor shortcomings stack up into a collapse of performance - every sick day, every repair delay will cause a larger ripple than before. Safety isn't lucrative in the short timeline of a pump and dump.
Safety is not a complicated issue, but this takeover is...
BLET (in February) initially opposed the takeover
BLET recently (At the end of April) changed positions and are now supporting Ancora's takeover.
So I don't really know who to side with on this issue tbh.
NS says they are going to do less PSR, but PSR is merely a buzzword and promises from current mamagement ring just as hollow as those from Ancora.