Board rescues IOOF CEO's lost incentive

The board of IOOF has come to the rescue of the company’s chief executive, Antony Robinson, on the basis that a glitch at its 2007 annual general meeting (AGM) resulted in him missing out on 675,000 options, which formed a part of a long-term performance incentive.

The board has agreed to issue new options to Robinson and will seek shareholder approval at the next AGM in November.

The board said it had originally intended that the performance hurdle for Robinson’s options would be tested on a cumulative basis and that, accordingly, a tranche of options would be issued and vest to him if the performance hurdle of 10 per cent growth in IOOF’s earnings per share was achieved over the performance period of two, three or four years.

However, it said the notice of meeting for IOOF’s 2007 AGM had incorrectly stated that the options would vest on an all or nothing basis and lapse if the performance hurdle was not achieved in any year of the applicable performance period.

The company said under the terms of the options approved by shareholders, all of Robinson’s 675,000 options had already lapsed, as the all-or-nothing performance hurdle was not met in the first year of the performance period for each tranche.

According to IOOF, the board said, subject to AGM shareholder approval, all of Robinson’s unvested long-term incentives would vest if the merger of IOOF and Australian Wealth Management proceeded.