Ceridian Corporation (NYSE:CEN) shares moved up $0.57, or 1.79%, to $32.38 today after the company appointed a new Chief Financial Officer. It was also revealed late Friday in a DEF14A filing that the company was being sued by activist hedge fund Pershing Square. In the lawsuit, the hedge fund demanded that the company make two letters available for inspection and copying by the hedge fund. Ceridian had admitted the existence of these two letters which were sent by senior executives of the company to the company's board of directors. Pershing Square believes that these letters include discussions of the senior executives' concerns about the management of the company, including concerns about the board of directors' oversight responsibilities and/or the performance of the prior chief executive officer. Yet, Ceridian has refused to provide the hedge fund with access to those letters for potential use in a proxy contest, even though they are directly relevant to the question of whether shareholders should vote for the new nominees proposed by Pershing Square or those proposed by the incubant directors. What did the company have to say? According to a spokeswoman for Ceridian: "We believe this lawsuit is completely without merit and we intend to defend ourselves vigorously."

Meanwhile, the company announced the appointment of a new chief financial officer today. "We are extremely pleased to have someone of Greg's caliber joining Ceridian," said Kathryn V. Marinello, president and chief executive officer of Ceridian. "Greg demonstrated his financial expertise during his years at GE by continually improving the business units in which he worked. I worked with Greg closely in the past at GE's Partnership Marketing Group and was consistently impressed by his knowledge of finance and leadership capabilities. The Board and I are delighted to welcome Greg to our senior management team and are confident that he will be an important contributor to Ceridian's success as we focus on creating value for our shareholders." The new CFO is good news for shareholders, who will also be watching this court fight closely to see if they can get a better glimpse into the company's management team and board of directors. And in the end, if Bill Ackman's Pershing Square is able to take over the company's Board of Directors, it could mean significant upside for shareholders! This makes CEN a company worth watching!

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