Activist investor Mantle Ridge has secured three board seats and effectively ousted the chief executive of Air Products and Chemicals after a shareholder vote. Paul Hilal’s firm last year [built a mor

Mantle Ridge owns about $1.3 billion (or about 1.8%) in common shares of Air Products stock. It had waged a months-long campaign, calling for major changes at the industrial gas company, which is headquartered in Upper Macungie Township.

Activist investor Mantle Ridge has won three seats on the board of hydrogen supplier Air Products and Chemicals Inc.

Mantle Ridge has been pushing for changes at Air Products, including the replacement of Seifi Ghasemi as chairman and CEO and improvements to the company’s strategy and capital allocation.

Air Products and Chemicals shareholders on Thursday handed activist investor Mantle Ridge Capital Management victory by electing three of its four proposed director candidates to the industrial gases company's nine-member board.