NEW YORK, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Air Products and Chemicals ( APD )

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, according to a source familiar with the vote.

The vote ends one of the most fiercely contested board

battles in recent memory, with an octogenarian chief executive

facing off against a hedge fund manager who helped put him on to

the company's board a decade ago. The company is expected to

announce the news at its annual meeting on Thursday.