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LONDON, May 10 (Reuters) - A number of investor advisory
groups have called on AstraZeneca shareholders to oppose
plans to increase Chief Executive Pascal Soriot's pay package
when the COVID-19 vaccine maker holds its annual meeting on
Tuesday.
AstraZeneca developed one of the first vaccines to tackle
the novel coronavirus but the Anglo-Swedish company has suffered
a series of setbacks, with disputes over supplies to the
European Union and concerns over the risk of rare blood clots.
Frenchman Soriot, who has been in charge of AstraZeneca
since 2012, received a total pay package worth 15.4 million
pounds ($21.7 million) last year. Most of that comprised bonuses
and long-term share awards on top of a base salary of 1.3
million pounds.
Under the new proposals, Soriot's maximum annual bonus will
increase to 250% of base salary from 200%, and he will be
entitled to long-term share awards worth up to 650% of his
salary, an increase from the current 550%.
Investor advisory groups ISS, Glass Lewis and PIRC all
recommended that shareholders vote against the increases on the
grounds that the potential rewards were excessive.
AstraZeneca said the company's strong performance in recent
years justified the rewards.
"This has resulted in AstraZeneca delivering a Total
Shareholder Return of close to 300% over the last eight years,
significantly ahead of our global pharmaceutical and FTSE 100
peers (at 183% and 44% TSR respectively)," a company spokesman
said.
"The board wants to ensure that our remuneration policy
keeps driving a performance in line with the ambitious
expectations of our shareholders and other stakeholders," he
added.
Chairman Leif Johansson will also be standing for
re-election at the annual general meeting (AGM).
Johansson acknowledged in a letter to shareholders that he
might be expected to stand down after nine years in the role but
said the board had asked him to stay on to help oversee the
completion of the planned takeover of U.S. group Alexion
Pharmaceuticals Inc.
AstraZeneca agreed to buy Alexion last December for $39
billion in its largest ever deal, diversifying away from its
fast-growing cancer business in a bet on rare-disease and
immunology drugs.
Shareholders will vote on the Alexion deal in a separate
meeting on Tuesday.
($1 = 0.7089 pounds)
(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn, Simon Jessop, Alistair Smout and
Ludwig Burger; Writing by Keith Weir; Editing by Pravin Char)
