Endeavour Mining PLC on Thursday said its recently-ousted chief executive Sebastien de Montessus will forego almost $30 million worth of remuneration following his dismissal.
The gold miner said de Montessus ‘will receive no further salary, pension or benefits for the period after his date of termination’. He will not be paid any bonuses in respect to 2023 or 2024. The former CEO’s 717,397 share awards lapsed in full, the company added.
Based on the $15.6 million value of the share awards, and the expected $2 million annual bonus for 2023, de Montessus has lost out on $17.6 million.
Endeavour will also ‘claw back’ a $10 million 2021 award handed to de Montessus, who was dismissed earlier this month for alleged serious misconduct. It will do the same for a $1.5 million cash portion of a bonus awarded a year later in 2022.
Part of the $11.5 million will be shaved off by the ex-CEO’s remaining 2020 long-term incentive plan award and the vested portion of his 2021 plan awards. These are worth $8.8 million in total, Endeavour said. The remainder will be paid back by de Montessus.
‘The total value of remuneration forfeited and being clawed back is $29.1 million,’ Endeavour summarised.
de Montessus said on Thursday: ‘I am disappointed with the way this matter has been handled and that I have not been given an opportunity to make proper representations to either the board or the remuneration committee.’
Endeavour, with assets in nations including Senegal and Burkina Faso, earlier in January said it ousted de Montessus with immediate effect.
The move followed an investigation into an irregular payment instruction issued by him in relation to an asset disposal undertaken by the company, it said.
The irregular payment instruction amounted to $5.9 million and was discovered in the course of a review of acquisitions and disposals.
De Montessus responded to the allegations, saying in 2021 he had instructed a creditor to ‘offset an amount owed to the company to pay for essential security equipment to protect our partners and employees in a conflict zone’.
This had ‘no additional cost to the company’ and ‘did not benefit [him] personally in any way’, he maintained.
However, de Montessus conceded that omitting to inform the board of the arrangement was ‘a lapse in judgement’.
Separately, in October 2023 allegations were made against de Montessus through the company’s confidential whistleblowing channel relating to his personal conduct with colleagues.
For his part, De Montessus said earlier this month: ‘I was given 48 hours’ notice of the concerns and no proper opportunity to answer them. As to the other investigation: no misconduct of any kind was discovered because none occurred. I am proud of what we have built together at Endeavour over the past 8 years. I will take my time to consider my position with my advisers.’
Shares in the company closed 0.3% higher at 1,388.00 pence each in London on Thursday. In Toronto, the stock was up 1.1% at C$23.85 in late-afternoon trade.
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