Naspers investor to oppose pay policy

Naspers shareholder Allan Gray plans to vote against the latter’s remuneration policy because it isn’t aligned to the performance of a stake in Chinese giant Tencent.

Naspers paid CEO Bob van Dijk $2.2 million (about R29 million) in the year through March, a 32% increase, and awarded him $10.4 million in long-term share options.

That corresponded with a period in which it reported a trading profit of $2.75 billion – or a loss of $379 million when Tencent’s stripped out.

The pay plan “is not aligned with shareholders’ interests, the disclosure is poor, and the performance targets appear to be very easy to achieve,” Allan Gray investment analyst Pieter Koornhof said.

“On top of that, they are now also proposing to shorten the vesting periods for the long-term incentives.”

Allan Gray owns about 2.3% of Naspers stock.

Its objections were first reported by Business Day newspaper.

The Public Investment Corporation is the largest shareholder with a 13% stake, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Naspers’s board believes its remuneration policy and practice are “fit for purpose and compare well to those of many of our global peers,” Van Dijk said.

“While we have increased our disclosure this year compared to previous years based on earlier shareholder feedback, there is always room for further improvement, which the remuneration committee will carefully consider before the publication of our next integrated report.”

Naspers’s 2001 investment in then-unknown Tencent grew into a 33% stake.

The stake is now worth more than Naspers’s market capitalisation. – Bloomberg