The €200bn asset manager PGGM has blasted the more than €360m bonus for the chief executive of Dutch chip-maker NXP after the company was taken over by US-based Qualcomm.
In a statement, it described the bonus – in shares and as well as share options – granted to chief executive Rick Clemmer as “totally unacceptable”.
It called on the company’s remuneration committee, its supervisory board and Clemmer reduce the remuneration considerably for the sake of the company’s stakeholders.
The asset manager said it was acceptable to share part of a company’s profit as a bonus with its board and staff, but it said it was opposed to “individuals gathering disproportionate financial assets”.
PGGM – asset manager for the €185bn healthcare scheme PFZW – argued that remuneration policies had become overly complex, leading to unpredictable results.
It has invested €20m in NXP – a former subsidiary of Philips – through listed equity and has also unspecified private equity holdings in the company.
In other news, a survey by The Pensions Rating Agency (TPRA) suggests that less than half of industry-wide and occupational pension funds are transparent about the remuneration of their board members.
The TPRA said many pension funds had also failed to provide clarity about the remuneration of their supervisory boards and board committees.
The agency, which assessed 68 schemes in total, said the issue was less important at company pension funds, as their board members were usually employed by the sponsor.
It found that less than one-quarter of the schemes paid their trustees more than the non-binding guideline of the Dutch Pensions Federation, which has set a maximum of €140,000 for a full-time board member at a large scheme, and €125,000 and €100,000 for medium-sized and small schemes, respectively.
According to Michaël Deinema of TPRA, pension funds have not explained why they exceeded the guidelines.
Lastly, the €68bn metal scheme PMT has committed €400m to invest in affordable rental property over the next four years.
According to CIO Inge van den Doel, the pension fund is aiming at the large group of people who do not qualify for social housing and cannot afford non-regulated rental property or to buy a home.
A spokesman for MN, PMT’s manager, added that returns were expected to be similar to non-regulated rental housing because of the low-risk profile, the low vacancy level and low vacancy costs.
PMT has a €750m residential-property portfolio, with almost 45% in the affordable-housing segment.
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