High fees annoys Gardell: Not value for money – the Swedish newspaper svenska Dagbladet

Christer Gardell join in the criticism of ABB’s board of directors. But he makes the counter-thrust from the storägaren Investor. Photo: Yvonne Åsell, Magnus Hjalmarson Neideman

… previous been able to tell you the amount of compensation is to ABB’s board of directors is the highest among the listed companies in Sweden. But even in a comparison of large european companies active in the same sectors as in the ABB, then the company’s remuneration out of the high.

– the higher The fees, the higher the requirements on performance. With the ABB lagged behind the competition course – and the results have not the shareholders get value for money so far, ” says Christer Gardell.

overall, companies today cannot afford to stick with elefantkyrkogårdar, where members year after year are allowed to remain.

During last year was paid a total equivalent to 32 million to 10 members. Most went to the chair which got more than 10 million. The remuneration of ABB’s chairman amount to more than 10 million per year, the chairman of the board since a year back is Peter Voser. The cost of ABB’s board of directors is also expected to rise sharply this year.

– generally, see ABB’s fees high. With a larger board it becomes more expensive for shareholders, ” says Gardell.

ABB’s largest shareholder, Investor, do not share the criticism.

– English directors ‘ fees are below the average in Europe, while it is well known that the fees for swiss listed companies is substantially above the european average, says Stefan Stern, head of communications at Investor.

According to Stefan Stern the Investor has backed and voted for the level that now apply to ABB’s board of directors. Right now, there is a maktstrid between the largest shareholders Investor with 10.5 per cent of the company and Cevian, which owns close to 6 percent. Cevian would like to see a separately list the Power Grids. A plan that does not seem to get support from the Investor.

“We can never assume structural changes in the companies we go into, but it is clear that it often becomes crucial if our investment goes from being good to be amazing,” said Christer Gardell to SvD in an interview published in the beginning of september.

In the same interview revealed Christer Gardell to ABB’s market capitalization of 415 billion, in principle, needed to be doubled to Cevian to achieve its investment objectives. A spin-off and separate listing of the Power Grids (which accounts for almost a third of the entire ABB) would be able to provide almost 8 per cent in capital appreciation, according to their own evaluation as Cevian done. The same evaluation assesses the cumulative effects of a breakdown at around 30%.

the Fees of ABB’s board of directors will now become a bone of contention. The board of directors can be even more expensive. During the spring general meeting elected four new members, but only one resigned. It means that the company’s board of directors grew by nearly 40 percent, from 8 members to 11. In average, was a regular member during the last year a compensation of over 3 million. Which indicates a total annual cost of ABB’s board of directors on over 40 million. Now warns: nordnet’s sparekonom Joakom Bornold to the board of directors is threatening to become a "elefantkyrkogård".

– If you need new skills, the nominating committee also hold for the quality of the entire board of directors. Overall, companies today cannot afford to stick with elefantkyrkogårdar, where members year after year are allowed to remain as some kind of reward for long and faithful services, ” says Joakim Bornold.

member, the longest in its place of ABB’s board of directors Jacob Wallenberg. He was elected in 1999, seventeen years ago as a representative of the storägaren Investor.