Investors in mining giant Xstrata PLC (XTA.LN) are expected to
vote against a bonus package worth tens of millions of pounds for
key administrative and financial staff at the company ahead of its
planned takeover by Glencore PLC (GLEN.LN), the Sunday Times
reports.
Investors will vote Tuesday on the huge deal, which has been
delayed for months due in part to investor opposition to executive
payments.
A number of large investors are "outraged" at the payout, which
is designed to incentivize 14 staff at the company's head office in
Zug, Switzerland, the newspaper says.
David Cumming, a fund manager at Stndard Life, one of Xstrata's
largest shareholders, told the Sunday Times the payouts were
"unnecessary." "I think it is a combination of a rather rapacious
management team and a weak board," he said.
Xstrata shareholders will cast three votes on the proposed deal
Tuesday.
The two Anglo-Swiss natural-resource companies reconfigured the
ballot to overcome shareholder opposition to 140 million pounds, or
roughly $220 million, in retention payments.
The ballot asks Xstrata shareholders to vote three times: first,
on a deal that includes the retention payments; second, on one that
doesn't; and third, on the retention payments themselves. For the
deal to go through, the third vote has to line up with one of the
first two.
Representatives for Xstrata couldn't be reached for comment
Sunday.
Write to London bureau at generaldesklondon@dowjones.com
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