Old Mutual’s shareholders at the company’s AGM expressed their displeasure at the pay granted to the group’s executives, including the R300m carrot the board has dangled before CEO Jurie Strydom to drive share price growth and unlock value for shareholders.The group’s remuneration plan failed to cross the 75% threshold, with the company now set for further engagement with shareholders who voted against the adoption of the remuneration implementation plan.“Ordinary resolution 5.1 (Remuneration Policy) and ordinary resolution 5.2 (Remuneration Implementation Report) each received support from a majority of shareholders,” the company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.(Dorothy Kgosi) “However, neither achieved the 75% shareholder support threshold applicable under the nonbinding advisory voting framework … with the voting outcomes for these ordinary resolutions at 68.39% and 70.72%, respectively.”The group’s share price has underwhelmed over the years, with the group valued at R59bn versus the R188bn rival Sanlam is valued at on the JSE.Old Mutual’s share price is up just 18% over the past five years, a period in which Sanlam has surged 50% and embarked on a huge acquisition spree at home and on the continent, with a sizeable presence in India.With its share price trading at a large discount to its group equity value (GEV), the Old Mutual board last year took steps to address the group’s underwhelming market valuation.To this end, the board put a huge incentive on the table for Strydom to drive share price growth and create billions of rand in value. Strydom needs to get the Old Mutual share price to R21.74, or higher, by May 12 2030, to get the R300m award.By Tuesday, the share price traded at R13.91. Strydom was appointed and officially assumed the group CEO role just more than a year ago.The rationale for the outperformance bonus (OPP) was captured in the annual report published before the AGM.“The group CEO’s OPP is geared to shareholder value creation. Through a combination of forfeitable shares and dividend shares, the structure creates a leveraged outcome for the group CEO, with Jurie only benefiting if there is a meaningful and sustained increase in the share price.“The group CEO received R300m worth of share appreciation rights at commencement, which, based on a strike price of R10.87, equates to 27.6-million share appreciation rights. Upside is capped at double the strike price (R21.74), limiting maximum gain to R300m while ensuring payout only if exceptional performance is achieved.“The performance hurdles are transparent and challenging and require strong total shareholder outcomes, especially considering the negative growth in the share price in the five years prior to appointment (minus 4.3%). In addition, the plan promotes long-term retention through a seven to nine-year structure.”Old Mutual will now engage in high-level meetings with dissenting shareholders. Aheesh Singh, MP9 Asset Management’s chief investment officer, said the vote sheds light on how investors see Old Mutual at this point in its turnaround. “This is happening in a world where debates about executive pay are becoming more common, especially in societies that are already dealing with high inequality. I don’t interpret the result of the vote as investors rejecting strong incentives; it looks more like they are asking whether management’s incentives and shareholder returns are aligned,” Singh said.Business Day