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Ferrari, Cnh, Ubs and more. All the no’s of the Cometa Fund in the shareholders’ meetings

1 year ago babelfish

Ferrari, Cnh, Ubs and more. All the no's of the Cometa Fund in the shareholders' meetings

The Cometa pension fund for metalworkers chaired by the economist Realfonzo said no during the last shareholders' meetings of some companies such as Ferrari, CNH, Apple, UBS, Unicredit and more. All the details

After rejecting Tim Cook at the helm of Apple, Fondo Cometa rejects John Elkann at the helm of Ferrari. And not only that, there are many votes against the Agnelli family companies and the banking sector from the National Pension Fund for workers in the engineering sector. Fondo Cometa is the leading Italian pension fund, boasting about 450,000 members and 13 billion in managed pension savings.

ALL THE "NO" OF THE COMETA FUND TO THE AGNELLI FAMILY

The Cometa Fund chaired by the economist Riccardo rRalfonzo (in the photo) expressed itself in the opposite way with respect to three points that emerged during the meeting of April 14, 2022 which concern CNH industrial and one which concerns Ferrari.

THE NO TO THE REELECTION OF JOHN ELKANN AT THE DRIVING OF FERRARI

The Cometa Fund has rejected John Elkann 's re-election proposal as executive chairman of Ferrari. The reasons have to do with the independence of chairman Elkann as chairman of the ESG committee, which also deals with the tasks relating to the appointment of directors, and chairman and CEO of Exor NV (main shareholder with 22.9% of the shares and 34.5% of the voting rights). The Cometa Fund underlines that concerns "arose about the appointment of an Executive Director as Chairman of the Board, due to the significant risks of conflicts of interest", furthermore John Elkann , as chairman of the ESG committee also deals with the tasks relating to the appointments of Directors, which should lead to the preference of "an independent member according to best international practices".

NO TO CNH INDUSTRIAL GROUP

The Fund also returned CNH Industrial 's proposals regarding the remuneration of the company's top management. “The total variable compensation attributed to the CEO is equal to 1107% of the basic salary in 2022 (696% excluding the “welcome bonus”), a value decidedly above European and Dutch practices – writes Fondo Cometa -. The payment of substantial "welcome bonuses", which do not depend on the results achieved in the Group, is contrary to international best practices. Furthermore, 25% of the long-term incentive does not depend on any performance parameter, and therefore is not aligned with the creation of sustainable value”. The Fund has returned a stock-based incentive plan to the sender. “The CEO's incentive, upon achievement of the targets, amounts to USD 12 million (706% of the base salary), and the performance-dependent component can increase up to 200% of the target value – we read -. Consequently, the maximum bonus attributable to the CEO is USD 21 million (1235% base salary). These incentive levels are significantly higher than the best practices in the sector, and contribute to the significant pay gap between top management and the rest of the employees”. The no also came on the authorization to issue special voting shares .

THE TWO FROM THE COMETA FUND NO TO STELLANTIS

Two votes against arrived for Stellantis, again in the matter of management remuneration. “Serious concerns – writes the Fund – have arisen on the pension contributions for the CEO (119% of the basic salary in 2022), which risk representing a real “golden parachute”. Furthermore, the total compensation attributed to the CEO (EUR 21.95 million in 2022) is decidedly excessive in comparison with the Group's compensation practices".

ALL THE NO OF THE COMETA FUND TO THE BANKING SECTOR

Others did not arrive at UBS Group with the advisory vote on the 2022 Sustainability Report and the exemption from responsibilities of the members of the Board of Directors and the Executive Board. Still remaining in the banking sector, he denied consent to the re-election of Winnie Fox and Marcus Wallenberg, respectively in the roles of Senior Advisor and Chairman of the Board of Directors. He also said "no" to Banco Santander's proposals regarding "Setting the maximum amount of variable compensation at 200% of the fixed compensation for certain key employees" and on the 2022 Remuneration Report. On the same subject, the setting of the maximum amount of variable remuneration to 200% of fixed remuneration, Caixbank also said "no". Two more heavy votes against came for the Unicredit group . The first on the decision of the BoD to increase the fixed compensation of the managing director Andrea Orcel, from 2.5 million euros to 3.25 million (+30%). The second to the advisory on compensation paid in 2022: “The analysis carried out raised serious concerns regarding the relationship between total compensation of the CEO and average wages and salaries of Group employees, equal to 151x in 2022, compared with an average of 70 .5 recorded among large Italian companies last year. This level of pay inequality risks generating a feeling of injustice and demotivating employees, as well as reputational risks for the group. For this reason, the Fund voted against”.

ALL OTHERS COMET FUND NO

The Cometa Fund has not "saved" even other important industrial groups from votes against. There have been votes against Campari on the subject of management remuneration (the amount of variable compensation of the CEO, equal to 1174% of the base salary), on the proposal to assign "stock options to executives who do not sit on the Board, for an overall amounting to EUR 6 million” and did not authorize the purchase of treasury shares. It also rained no for the multinational Rio Tinto , the third largest mining company in the world. The Cometa Fund has said no to the re-election of Jakob Stausholm as CEO and Megan Clark as Chairman of the Sustainability Committee, due to alleged human rights violations. “In October 2022, Rio Tinto signed an important agreement with China Baowu Steel Group for the construction of a plant in Australia – writes the Fund -. China Baowu Steel Group is accused by a recent US report of violating human rights and exploiting child labor. The Investor Alliance for Human Rights recently launched an engagement campaign on the exploitation of forced labor of Huyguri detainees and other detainees in "re-education camps" in the Xinjiang region". I also vote against the 2022 Remuneration Report, the annual bonus for members of the Executive Committee and the overall annual bonus for the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Roche group .

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/ferrari-cnh-ubs-e-non-solo-tutti-i-no-del-fondo-cometa-nelle-assemblee-dei-soci/ on Mon, 17 Apr 2023 05:50:52 +0000.