Drug boss’s £40m pay bonanza as takeover looms
THE boss of Shire could take home up to $57million (£40million) from a sale of the drugs giant, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
The FTSE 100 company is a target for rival pharmaceutical firms and has already rejected approaches from Japan’s Takeda worth up to £44 billion in cash and shares.
Botox maker Allergan said on Thursday that it was also considering making an offer for Shire, a rare disease specialist. But it pulled out of the race shortly afterwards.
Shire, which is based in Dublin but listed in London, is now weighing up the latest offer from Takeda and said it would make an announcement ‘in due course’. Rival bidders could yet enter the fray.
Chief executive Flemming Ornskov has faced major shareholder revolts over his huge bonuses in the past. He has shares and options worth about $57million, according to details buried in a 216-page document released by Shire last month.
Some are only due to mature in years to come, but a takeover would accelerate payment of these. The exact amount would depend on how Shire has done, but even excluding performance-related options, Ornskov would be in a position to pocket $25 million after a sale.
The Danish executive will face renewed criticism over his pay at Shire’s annual meeting on Tuesday.
Ornskov’s maximum bonus, set at 780 per cent of his salary, has been called ‘excessive’ by the shareholder adviser Pensions & Investment Research Consultants (Pirc).
He took a pay cut last year, but still took home $5.3million. He was paid $10.6million the year before.
It is not the first time Shire has been a subject of takeover attempts. In 2014, American firm AbbVie had to abandon an agreed £32billion deal for Shire after the US introduced rules to prevent firms from doing overseas deals that would lower their corporate tax rates.