(March 29 – 14:30 ET) – According to a new proxy filed by Manulife Financial, 2000 was a banner year for the company’s CEO Dominic D’Alessandro.

Although his salary raise was modest, up to just over $1 million from almost $990,000 last year, his performance related compensation climbed dramatically.

D’Alessandro’s cash bonus jumped from just under $1.4 million in 1999 to $3 million last year. That amount includes a special one-time $1 million bonus for exceptional performance (which are paid in deferred units).

Under the firm’s compensation plan, D’Alessandro’s bonus is supposed to be limited to 200% of salary, although its compensation committee “has discretion to approve a payout above the plan maximum for exceptional performance”. On top of the cash payouts, D’Alessandro also picked up almost $1.4 million in options grants and more than $5.5 million in deferred units.

Part of the reason for the increase in D’Alessandro’s compensation package is that the Manulife also collapsed its previous long-term incentive plan in 2000. Beneficiaries of the plan were required to take their accumulated gains in the form of cash, options and deferred units. This amounted to $11.1 million for D’Alessandro.

Deferred share units were the big compensation instrument in 2000 for the firm. Apart from D’Alessandro, the other executives took home a combined payout of more than $8 million in these units. As defined in the proxy circular deferred share units represent the right to receive common shares equal to the number of units held by the participants in the plan. The units vest at a rate of 25% per year.