Elan chief is fitted with €4.2m 'golden handcuffs'
ELAN boss Kelly Martin has been shackled to the pharmaceutical company for up to three more years with the award of a €4.2m set of "golden handcuffs".
Elan, whose annual sales of its multiple sclerosis treatment Tysabri exceeded $1bn (€727m) for the first time ever last year, awarded Martin 674,000 options priced at $7.05, which can be exercised over the next three years. He was also granted 124,000-plus restricted stock units, which vest over the same period.
Other Elan executives, including chief financial officer Shane Cooke, company secretary Liam Daniel and clinical portfolio boss Carlos Paya, were also locked in to the company for up to three years under these awards.
In total, management received awards of €6m, which they will only receive if they stay at the company until 2013. One third of the shares vests each year until 2013, with the stock options exercisable annually as well.
New filings show that Martin saw his salary double to €1.23m last year, excluding stock awards. He pocketed a bonus of €593,000 for the year. But Martin was not the highest paid member of Elan management. Shane Cooke earned marginally more at €1.24m. Chairman Kyran McLaughlin was paid €222,000 for the year.
Last year was a pivotal year for Elan as it struggled with its debt mountain. In July, it inked a deal with Johnson & Johnson to take an 18 per cent stake in the business for almost €1bn.
McLaughlin is also deputy chairman of Davy stockbrokers, which earned €1.8m in fees from the $1bn-plus Johnson & Johnson buy-in as well as from the issue of new loan notes.
Last month Elan broke even and actually made a profit for the first times since 2001. The company reported a net loss of €94.7m for 2009 but crucially the pharma company generated an operating profit of €25.95m for Q4.
- Nick Webb
Originally published in
