The annual examination of executive compensation at Minnesota's 50 largest companies that appears in Sunday's Star Tribune business section contains interesting insights into payday trends and CEO turnover.
Often, CEOs catch their biggest ka-ching when they retire, get kicked out or sell the company. We came across at least four that have announced or consumated sales in the last several months, including:
• CEO T. Michael Miller of One Beacon Insurance of Plymouth. He could receive as much as $22.6 million over several years in cash, the value of his stock, retention bonuses and other compensation, as a result of OneBeacon's $1.7 billion sale to Canada's Intact Financial Group. As much as $10 million of Miller's package is conditioned on the extent of his continued employment.Several pages of compensation-related details are included in documents submitted to shareholders, who will vote July 18 on the proposed deal.as a shareholders meeting in Bermuda.
• Valspar CEO Gary Hendrickson. He was estimated in proxy materials sent to shareholders to be eligible for compensation of about $38.1 million in cash, the value of stock, cash and other benefits as a result of the Minneapolis-based company's sale to Sherwin-Williams.Sherwin-Williams is paying about $11.3 billion and plans to consolidate Valspar's operation into its Cleveland headquarters.
• Arctic Cat CEO Christopher Metz. He was eligible for about $6.6 million in cash, equity and other benefits resulting from the pending sale of long-struggling Arctic Cat to huge Textron for $247 million in cash.
• CEO Robert Demorest of Mocon. He was eligible for as much as $1.5 million in acquisition-related benefits as a result of the recent sale of the Brooklyn Park company to Pennsylvania-based Ametek for $30 per share, or $182 million. Demorest, the oldest CEO at 71 and a board member or CEO at Mocon for 20-plus years, was credited by analysts with a strong turnaround in recent years. He also held stock worth about $11 million.
