OSLO -Norway’s $1.3 trillion wealth fund will vote subsequent week to help high administration at German drug and farm merchandise maker Bayer AG, however will vote in opposition to the remuneration bundle of CEO Werner Baumann, it stated on Sunday.
Shareholders will vote on April 29 at Bayer’s annual basic assembly on whether or not or to not ratify the manager board’s enterprise conduct throughout 2021, a regular process at German AGMs.
The Norwegian fund owned 2.27% of Bayer’s shares on the finish of 2021, valued at $1.19 billion, making it the corporate’s fifth largest shareholder in accordance with Refinitiv knowledge.
“The board is answerable for attracting the suitable CEO and setting acceptable remuneration,” Norges Financial institution Funding Administration (NBIM), which operates the fund, stated in a press release.
It cited the necessity for a “substantial proportion of annual remuneration” to be supplied as shares locked in for 5 to 10 years, transparency to keep away from “unacceptable outcomes” and that every one advantages ought to have a transparent enterprise rationale.
Whereas the AGM vote is basically symbolic, with no bearing on administration’s legal responsibility or tenure, it's nonetheless seen as a key gauge of investor sentiment.
Baumann, whose contract as CEO runs till 2024, is underneath stress to spice up return on funding which has been lagging that of its rivals following the $63 billion takeover of agri enterprise Monsanto in 2018.
Bayer’s shares tumbled within the months that adopted the acquisition when jurors discovered Monsanto liable in a number of U.S. lawsuits for not warning of alleged most cancers dangers linked to its weedkiller Roundup.
The Norwegian fund joined a majority of shareholders on the 2019 AGM in rebuking Bayer’s administration, however did, nonetheless, give its backing to Baumann and his workforce for the next two years.
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