Regulatory News:
Petroplus Holdings AG (SWX: PPHN). Petroplus´s
Chairman, Thomas D. O´Malley, today announced
a reduction in the expense for executive compensation. The Board of
Directors of Petroplus, at its regular February Board Meeting, asked its
Compensation Committee to review the overall executive compensation
program for Petroplus. In particular, the current option program was not
considered to be meeting its expectations. In line with this, Mr. Robert
Lavinia, Petroplus´s Chief Executive Officer
has decided to forfeit a total of 350,000 options granted to him during
the year 2007. These options were valued and disclosed in Petroplus
Holdings AG´s 2007 Statutory Financial
Statements at approximately CHF 15.1 million. Mr. Lavinia, Mr. O´Malley
and other members of executive management have also voluntarily
relinquished options granted since 1st January 2008.
Mr. O´Malley stated that "Mr.
Lavinia was under no obligation to forfeit these options, but Mr.
Lavinia felt that the expense of the options shown in the Statutory
Financial Statements exceeded the benefit to the Company." Mr. O´Malley further stated that "Mr.
Lavinia identified this issue in February suggesting that he wanted to
act in the Company´s best interest."
Mr. O´Malley indicated that the above actions
will result in a re-capture of approximately $4 million already charged
in 2007 and the lowering of compensation expenses in 2008 to 2010 of
about $17 million for a total reduction of $21 million.
Petroplus´s Vice Chairman, and Chairperson of
the Compensation Committee, Mr. Patrick de Barros, said "We
appreciate Mr. Lavinia and the other members of executive management
cooperating on this issue and making a significant financial sacrifice."
Petroplus´s goal is to provide appropriate
incentives to its executives to enhance shareholder value, and to pay
them in accordance with Swiss, European and industry norms for
executives carrying out similar duties in similarly-sized companies.
Petroplus Holdings AG is the largest independent refiner and wholesaler
of petroleum products in Europe. Petroplus focuses on refining and
currently owns and operates seven refineries across Europe: the Coryton
refinery on the Thames Estuary in the United Kingdom, the Ingolstadt
refinery in Ingolstadt, Germany, the Belgium Refining Company refinery
in Antwerp, Belgium, the Petit Couronne refinery in Petit Couronne
France, the Cressier refinery in the canton of Neuchâtel
Switzerland, the Reichstett refinery in Alsace, France and the Teesside
refinery in Teesside, United Kingdom. The refineries have a combined
throughput capacity of approximately 864,000 bpd.
