Endeavour to strip former CEO of remuneration worth $29.1mn

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Endeavour Mining will strip former chief executive Sébastien de Montessus of remuneration worth $29.1mn after the gold producer fired the longstanding French boss because of alleged “serious misconduct”.

The FTSE 100 gold mining group said on Thursday that de Montessus will forfeit $17.6mn, which consists of a $2mn bonus earmarked for 2023 and $15.6mn of unvested share awards. It added it will also claw back $11.5mn that was provided to him through a combination of a one-off payment in 2021 and a bonus in 2022.

The ousting of de Montessus earlier this month came after Endeavour, which operates four gold mines in west Africa, alleged it discovered an irregular payment of $5.9mn made on his instructions in relation to an asset disposal. The payment instruction had not been reported to the board.

De Montessus said in a statement on Thursday: “I am disappointed with the way that 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.”

The total value of the remuneration that de Montessus will forfeit and that will be clawed back comes to a total of $29.1mn, London-based Endeavour said.

It added that he will receive no further salary, pension or benefits following his termination and will not be paid any bonus for 2023 or 2024.

The Frenchman was the highest paid chief executive in the FTSE 100 in 2021, earning $22.7mn, despite the company being a fraction of the size of the London Stock Exchange’s largest groups such as Shell and AstraZeneca.

One of the reasons for the size of his remuneration in 2021 was the company giving him a one-off payment of $10mn.

The Financial Times has previously reported that forensic accountants working on behalf of Endeavour could not identify the owner of the bank account to which the $5.9mn payment had been sent.

De Montessus has admitted a lapse in judgment for failing to inform the board about the $5.9mn transaction but defended the payment instruction as necessary to cover the cost of security services in a conflict zone.

At the time of sacking de Montessus, Endeavour said the board had commissioned an external investigation into allegations regarding his personal conduct with employees and was considering the next steps to take. The company, which hired law firm Linklaters to conduct the probe, has not specified what the allegations consisted of.

De Montessus said in a statement earlier this month that he was considering his legal position, adding that Linklaters did not uphold the allegations about his personal conduct.

The FT has reported that employees at Endeavour have questioned the independence of Linklaters to conduct the investigation into de Montessus after serving for years as the gold producer’s main legal advisers.

Endeavour has appointed as chief executive Ian Cockerill, a 69-year-old veteran mining executive.

The gold mining industry has faced criticism from some investors and corporate governance experts for levels of pay that they see to be excessive.