The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.
Barrick Gold Corp. will unveil pay packages for outgoing chairman Peter Munk and his successor John Thornton, as well as new executive compensation methods, after shareholder uproar over the incoming chair’s signing bonus.
Mr. Thornton’s $11.9-million (U.S.) bonus galvanized the traditionally passive Canadian pension funds to demand changes to how Barrick was governed, triggering the company to overhaul its board of directors late last year.
Barrick’s management proxy circular, to be filed on Monday, will present a new compensation scheme designed to align management’s pay even more closely with the miner’s performance. The company’s plan is expected to require executives to hold their shares until they leave the company.
That would be a departure from the previous arrangements, which allowed management to exercise their stock options at certain dates. “This is coming after they paid Thornton his big bonus. In some respects it’s like shutting the barn door after the horses have left,” said Robert Gill, vice-president and portfolio manager at Lincluden Investment Management, which holds $3.3-billion in assets including Barrick.
Mr. Thornton’s total pay package was $17-million in the previous year and Mr. Munk’s total pay package was $4.3-million.
Nevertheless, compensation experts say Barrick is making progress.
“I suspect that they will also have lower bonuses than they did last year,” said Paul Gryglewicz, managing partner with Global Governance Advisors.
Last year has been characterized as the worst in Barrick’s 31-year old history.
For the rest of this article, click here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/barrick-to-revise-executive-compensation-rules/article17732853/#dashboard/follows/