Premier Foods told Nissin of US Interest

Strange things happen in Corporateland. It will be interesting to see what regulators have to say about this situation. Was Nissin an Insider after being told of potential bid interest? I guess if Joe Blogs would have been told by his girlfriend in the mailroom at Premier before quickly buying some shares the regs would have come down on him like a ton of bricks. So come on chaps at the FCA and/or PRA (wherever you hang your hats in the revolving regulatory circus) and shed some light on this. And the concerned 'fiduciaries' in the investment management firms should have a word to say as well, not least about the off-board transaction when a 'Private' Equity firm (handling the money of the wider public but keeping a hefty share for itself) got a sweet deal selling a stake to Nissin.
(30 March 2016)

CEO Pay - another Black Eye for sleepy Governance Crowd

Sotheyby's CEO Got $20 Million Pay Package in First Year at the Helm (Bloomberg)
And what should be even more infuriating - total earnings were just $46 Million!
(27 March 2016)

Chairman - only Jobs for the (mostly) old Boys?

American Banks are standing tall, and most of them do not have an 'independent' Chairman to micro or macro manage their CEO's. So what IS the point of employing expensive Chairmen? Most of them are past their best years and this reverse ageism surely does not lead to the desired performance as the examples of quite a few (all?) of the European Banks attest. Maybe HSBC could save a penny or two by not wasting money on headhunters.
( 18 March 2016)

Anger at £60 Mio Sorrell Bonus Deal

Report that PIRC's head of governance and financial analysis criticised the £60 Mio. compensation package for WPP's Martin Sorrell can only be welcomed. But it leaves the wider question why the fiduciaries in the asset management industry cannot be more effective in reigning in the pay for top executives. Apart from the question whether or not such incentive schemes are really required to obtain top performance from executives - it also leaves the wider question of morality that both sides of the deal have to answer for.
(16 March 2016)

CEO Pay Depends on Board's Independence

This study (paywall) may well be one useful contribution to explain (excessive) CEO pay. There is too much circularity in the appointment of board members, who in turn appoint the CEO. So they scratch each other's backs. But that leads to the question: how to find and appoint board members that ARE independent. And even if that problem is solved: what is the appropriate compensation for the CEO? The pay for performance mantra can be manipulated to justify ANY number
(14 March 2016)