Endeavour CEO has £22.8m pay packet withdrawn for alleged ‘serious misconduct’ after firing
The former chief executive of Endeavour Mining is set to miss out on a $29m pay packet as a result of his alleged”serious misconduct”.
Sebastien de Montessus, who was fired from the FTSE 100 gold mining group earlier this month, will forfeit $17.6m, (£13.8m) comprising a $2m (£1.5m) bonus earmarked for 2023 and $15.6m (£12.3m) of unvested share awards.
The firm will also take back $11.5m (£9.2m) that was given to him through bonuses and one-off payments between 2021-22.
In 2022, de Montessus was the eighth highest-earning chief executive in the FTSE100.
The booting of de Montessus earlier this month came after Endeavour, which operates four gold mines in West Africa, said it discovered an irregular payment of $5.9m (£4.6m) made on his instructions in relation to an asset disposal.
Endeavour’s shares slumped 10 per cent on the day following the news and are down a total of 17.5 per cent to date since his departure.
The board appointed Ian Cockerill, who served as deputy chair of the board, as the firm’s new chief executive officer with immediate effect.
De Montessus could not be reached for comment but has told the Financial Times since his dismissal that he had “no proper opportunity” to answer the accusations, which came 48 hours before the company fired him.
He marks the second major FTSE chief executive to be ousted and subsequently financially disabused in recent weeks.
Former BP chief Bernard Looney, whose successor Murray Auchincloss was officially minted earlier this week, had £32m in bonuses and pay clawed back after failing to disclose inappropriate relationships with colleagues.