(August 14 – 18:30 ET) – Mackenzie Financial Corp.’s recently published proxy circular reveals plans to start granting stock options to its non-management directors. The firm says, “management believes that participation by non-management directors in the [options] plan will more closely align their interests with those of shareholders.”
The proposed options would be granted at the market price on the last trading day prior to the date of grant, as required by TSE regulations. They would be in effect for five years although not vested until three years after the grant. No grant will exceed $50,000 and no more than 10,000 options may be granted to a director within any five-year period.
Seven of Mackenzie’s 10 directors qualify as non-management directors including Gail Cook-Bennett, David Clark, Dermot Coughlan, William Crerar, Alan Dilworth, Warren Hurst, and Alasdair McKichan.
Mackenzie was also good to its executives last year. The circular reveals that in addition to the usual salary, bonus and long-term incentives, the firm paid out $9.9 million in shared profits among all its full-time employees not just the executives. It also paid another $4.2 million to several executive officers, sharing the $136 million after-tax profit Mackenzie made on its sale of its interest in Merrill Lynch. Four of the top five executives for example received an additional $500,000 payout.
The proxy also revealed that AIC Ltd. now owns about 24.4% of Mackenzie’s outstanding shares, at this point last year the firm owned 19.7% worth.
Watch for a special feature on executive compensation in the financial industry in the September issue of Investment Executive.