Brink's Company (NYSE:BCO) shares moved down marginally today after Thomas Hudson's Pirate Capital disclosed a 4.5 percent stake and issued a letter to the board of directors. In the letter, the activist hedge fund revealed a DF King & Co. survey of Brink's shareholders showing widespread support for its proposed breakup of the company.

Hudson's Pirate Capital is a well-known activist hedge fund that specializes in unlocking value by forcing companies to undergo unusual corporate transactions like spin-offs, breakups, sales or rights offerings. The fund has been pressuring Brink's to break up its company and has now proven that it has sufficient support for the idea. It is worth noting that any split-up would likely generate millions of dollars in additional value for shareholders.

The survey of over 90 percent of the company's shareholders showed that nearly 50 percent of them would support a breakup while 66 percent would want the company to explore a potential breakup. This should be enough support to force the company to at least explore the possibility, which will likely lead to a vote if it turns out to be as good of a deal as Pirate Capital believes.

Pirate Capital also criticized the Chairman and CEO of the company by stating that shareholders may be prone to voting him out of office at the next election, reasoning that if he spent less time driving around in company cars, flying in the company jet, or playing golf at the corporate golf course he would have time to listen to shareholders.

In the end, this next annual meeting should be an interesting one as management and shareholders square off to determine the future of the company. Given the potential for a breakup or sale transaction, BCO is definitely a stock that shareholders should be watching closely!

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