UniCredit's top investor BlackRock voted against CEO pay (updated)
14/05/2021 13:20
* AGM minutes show BlackRock, Allianz voted against pay
* Package doubles previous CEO's pay, fully guarantees 2021
bonus
* Policy got narrow approval at last month's AGM
* Orcel loses millions in deferred UBS pay in joining
(Adds details)
By Valentina Za
MILAN, May 14 (Reuters) - UniCredit's CRDI.MI largest
investor BlackRock BLK.N voted against the remuneration
package that last month turned the Italian bank's new boss
Andrea Orcel into one of Europe's highest paid bank chiefs, a
document showed.
Orcel narrowly avoided a shareholder revolt against his pay
package worth up to 7.5 million euros ($9 million) a year,
securing only 54% of votes at a general meeting on April 15.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2M80OO
Minutes from the meeting published on UniCredit's website
late on Thursday showed BlackRock was among investors that voted
against the pay policy, which got rejected by shareholders
accounting for almost 43% of capital present at the AGM.
New York-based BlackRock, the world's largest money manager
with $9 trillion in assets, is the top investor in UniCredit
with a stake of 5.1%. A spokeswoman for BlackRock in Italy
declined to comment.
Earlier this month BlackRock was among investors that
rejected the pay of executives at GE Corp. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2MS1SG
Also Allianz Global Investors, the asset manager part of
German group Allianz SE ALVG.DE , rejected Orcel's pay package,
according to the minutes. A spokesman for AllianzGI confirmed
all of their funds and mandates voted against.
Allianz Group is the third-largest investor in UniCredit
with a 3.1% stake behind Capital Research and Management which
owns 5.0%.
Orcel's package, which doubled the pay of previous Chief
Executive Jean Pierre Mustier, had drawn criticism from leading
shareholder advisory firms and came amid regulatory calls for
restraint over pay in the face of the pandemic.
Both International Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis had
recommended investors reject it, taking aim in particular with a
fully guaranteed bonus for 2021. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2LS2AG
When considering attendance of 60.5% at the general meeting,
the remuneration policy received backing from only a third of
UniCredit's capital.
That includes Italian shareholders Leonardo Del Vecchio, the
eyewear billionaire, as well as Fondazione Cariverona and
Fondazione CRT. The two charitable foundations that are historic
investors in UniCredit had openly backed Orcel's pay package
saying the bank faces tough choices. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2LZ4SE urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nR1N2LS00F
UniCredit hired Orcel after falling behind rival heavyweight
Intesa Sanpaolo ISP.MI , which last year acquired UBI and
secured over a fifth of the domestic market.
In joining Italy's No. 2 bank, Orcel is relinquishing more
than 25 million euros in deferred pay from former employer UBS,
which he left to become CEO at Santander SAN.MC in 2018 before
falling out with the Spanish bank over pay. ($1 = 0.8285 euros)
(Additional reporting by Alexander Huebner in Munich; Editing
by Marguerita Choy and Elaine Hardcastle)
((valentina.za@thomsonreuters.com; +39 02 6612 9526;))