Sources inform ''Globes'' that The Phoenix Holdings Ltd. (TASE: PHOE1;PHOE5) board will convene to reconsider the salary of CEO Eyal Lapidot. Phoenix's board of directors is meeting in response to the public outcry against the company's plan to pay Lapidot NIS 10 million a year, and the objections of Ministry of Finance officials, led by Supervisor of Capital Markets, Insurance, and Savings Dorit Salinger, to his high pay.
"If and when the committee decides what it will decide, the board will again discuss the issue, before the shareholders meeting to approve the salary," said a source at Phoenix. "We aren't obtuse and we listen to the supervisor and the public. We'll take another look at things, and we'll make decisions."
Phoenix chairman Moshe Barkat and board members met Salinger a few days ago to explain why they approved such a high salary for Lapidot. There are also claims that the board failed to comply with the regulator's instructions for approving the CEO's salary.
These claims are infuriating Phoenix's executives. A source said, "The company's people are not thieves in the night and complied with the regulator's instructions. They consulted legal advisers and complied with the wording of the supervisor's circular." The company reportedly consulted the firms that advised the banks on similar matters: accounting firm KPMG Israel Somekh Chaikin and law firm Goldfarb Seligman.
A top investment institution manager lambasted Phoenix's board, saying, "There is a problem with Lapidot's compensation, because of its high fixed portion (NIS 5 million a year - R.S.) and the circumstances in which he will eligible for the variable part, even scenarios in which the company's results are poor. The board of directors seems to be held hostage."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 5, 2014
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