Ex-boss of mining company receives £1.3m after small investors lose out
THE FORMER CEO of Sirius Minerals received £1.3m in bonuses from the mining company, which was then acquired by Anglo American in a cut-price takeover.
Earlier this year, it was announced that a multi-billion fertiliser mine near Whitby was to go ahead after shareholders in Sirius Minerals voted to accept a takeover offer from Anglo American.
Ex-CEO Chris Fraser bagged nearly £900,000 in bonus share payments and was awarded a further £417,000 performance bonus for 2019, Companies House filings show. Former finance director Thomas Staley received payment for his shares of nearly £600,000. On top of this, he picked up a performance bonus of £279,000.
Anglo American acquired Sirius in May for a cut price of 5.5p per share after the business failed to raise enough funds to keep the
fertiliser mine project alive. It saw 85,000 small investors, including 25,000 shareholders in Yorkshire and the North East, lose out.
Local shareholders saw the Sirius share price sink from 45p in 2016. Following the takeover, the company was renamed Anglo American Woodsmith.
Anglo American said the decisions on remuneration were taken by the remuneration committee of the board of Sirius, prior to the completion of the acquisition and is in line with the remuneration policy approved by 80 per cent of Sirius’ shareholders at the May 2018 AGM.
Both Mr Fraser’s and Mr Staley’s performance bonuses could have been much higher but failure to raise enough finance to continue development meant they missed out. The duo are still with the company, holding the position of CEO and chief financial officer, respectively of Anglo American’s Crop Nutrients business. A spokesman for Anglo American said: “This element of the 2019 bonus clearly was not achieved and therefore the bonus relating to this objective was zero. Their total awards represented a 12 per cent and eight per cent reduction respectively compared to the previous year.”