Novartis shareholders, meeting today in general meeting, gave their endorsement to the contested remuneration system of the top executives of the Basel pharmaceutical group, approving it with more than 61% of the votes. The opposites were the 38.3%.
The vote of the 2,160 shareholders who attended the meeting was advisory only. Even a "no" would have had no direct consequence.
The US shareholder group ISS as well as the Ethos Foundation and the shareholder group for a sustainable economy Actares had previously spoken out against the controversial Novartis remuneration system. In particular, they consider that the variable part of the management salary is too high compared to the basic salaries.
Novartis Chairman of the Board Daniel Vasella defended the system as effective and clear. The total remuneration of executives and directors of the group amounted to 82 million francs in 2010.
Some salaries, such as that of Vasella and director Joe Jimenez, were particularly high: 25 respectively [€ 19.5 million] and 13 [€10.14 million] million francs, calculated on the basis of market value. The director of Ethos Dominique Biedermann called the 25 million attributed to the president of the group "totally disproportionate".
The result of the vote is a signal to the board of directors, Biedermann said. He called for the supervisory body to review the system and resubmit it at the 2012 general meeting.
(ats) 17:32 22/02/11
