Barrick Gold Corp. shareholders overwhelmingly voted on Tuesday against the company's executive compensation resolution.
Opposition to the non-binding resolution stemmed from the 36% pay hike given to Barrick Chairman John Thornton in 2014.
The C$238.8 billion ($194.9 billion) Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, C$154.4 billion Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and C$114 billion British Columbia Investment Management Corp., Victoria, voted against the say-on-pay resolution. Also, CPPIB and Ontario Teachers, both based in Toronto, withheld votes for J. Brett Harvey, lead director and chairman of the board's compensation committee, according to statements on the pension funds' websites.
The three pension funds combined own less than 1% of Barrick shares.
Proxy advisory firms ISS and Glass Lewis also opposed the say-on-pay resolution.
“The chairman's compensation is appropriate given his extraordinary contributions to rebuilding long-term value for owners,” Barrick said in a presentation on executive compensation at its annual meeting Tuesday in Toronto. “The compensation committee has a strong track record of applying appropriate discretion in support of our compensation objectives. They applied the same judicious approach when setting the chairman's compensation.”
Vote totals were not available, and Andy Lloyd, Barrick spokesman, could not be reached to provide more details.
