Qatar is dodging its shareholder duty. The emirate successfully used its muscle to extract better terms from Glencore in the commodity trader’s union with miner Xstrata. But the decision to vote in favor of the merger while abstaining on a side vote on retention bonuses makes Qatar Holding seem inconsistent at best.
The Qataris own 12 percent of Xstrata. Their refusal to back golden handcuffs for Xstrata staff is a snub to the scale of the $220 million incentive plan, according to a person familiar with the situation. It isn’t a show of solidarity with big institutional shareholders that oppose retentions in principle. In announcing its voting intentions, Qatar explicitly recognised that “retaining Xstrata’s operational management is of critical importance to the successful and stable integration”.
In other words, Qatar clearly supports, and even expects, the new board of the enlarged miner to devise an alternative pay scheme or ad-hoc packages for key staff in due course. The Gulf state and Glencore boss, Ivan Glasenberg, together have over $10 billion invested in the success of the $80 billion merger. Neither can afford for top talent to disappear.
No comments:
Post a Comment