25th Jun 2019 07:00
(Alliance News) - Board members at Smith & Nephew PLC have talked about moving the company's share listing to the US, the FT reported on Tuesday, in a bid to boost pay for new chief executive Namal Nawana.
The FT reported that, "according to two people familiar with the matter", the company was considering the US listing in order to "narrow the gap" between Nawana's pay at his previous company Alere and his pay at Smith & Nephew.
Nawana, who joined the medical device company as CEO in May last year, earned USD2.8 million for the seven months he headed Smith & Nephew in 2018, according to the newspaper. The FT pointed out that, at Alere, Nawana's pay package was USD8.6 million in 2016 and USD11.1 million in 2015.
A "person briefed on the discussions" told the newspaper "it would be a way for Namal to boost his pay", adding that although Nawana is "probably paid as much as British institutional investors will stomach" it is "just not an issue" in the US.
The same person also reportedly argued that there has been an increase in the number of the company's US investors, and pointed out that the US is Smith & Nephew's biggest market. Also of note is that the CEO himself "lives in the greater Boston area".
A Smith & Nephew spokesman told the FT: "Delisting from the UK is not part of this strategy. It is proud of its success as a global company with a 160-year heritage in the UK."
https://www.ft.com/content/5ccdb134-9650-11e9-8cfb-30c211dcd229?segmentId=080b04f5-af92-ae6f-0513-095d44fb3577
Related Shares:
Smith & Nephew