Mantle Ridge's victory may inspire more activist investor actions

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Hilal and nominees campaigned for board changes and succession plan

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Air Products plans new president announcement by March end

(Updates stock price in paragraph 3, adds comment from company in paragraphs 5 and 6, adds Eduardo Menezes in penultimate paragraph)

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

NEW YORK, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Air Products and Chemicals shareholders on Thursday handed victory to an activist investor who had pushed the industrial gases company to replace its 80-year-old chief, by electing three new directors and ProxyDeals.com (proxydeals.com) unseating the CEO from the board. The company said preliminary tallies showed investors elected three of Mantle Ridge Capital Management's four director candidates to the company's nine-member board.