Eni shareholders urged to reject pay increase for CEO by proxy firm
Influential proxy advisor ISS has urged investors to vote against a proposal by Italian energy company Eni to increase its chief executive's salary for 2026. The move was called "excessive".
Eni, after a 'nine-year period of no pay increase, planned to raise CEO Claudio Descalzi’s remuneration to about 8.9 million euro ($10.49million), and pay could rise up to 38%, to 15.4 million euro, under an additional overperformance level in its long term incentive plan.
Rome announced earlier this month that it would reappoint Descalzi for a new three-year term starting in May. This would prolong his tenure as the longest-serving head of the company.
The ISS said that while some increases were understandable, they appeared excessive. They called the current pay?levels as "substantial".
ISS recommendations are used to guide a large number of votes at annual general meetings.
The ISS stated that "the?remuneration reports' absence of performance results for 2023-2025 and the lack of timely information about accrued bonuses for senior management, resulting in a reporting lag of one year, raises concerns over transparency and falls below acceptable market standards."
Eni did not respond immediately to a request for comment made outside of normal business hours.
In March, it said that it compared the remuneration paid to its CEO with other European peers such as Shell, TotalEnergies and BP.
Analysts warned that the challenge for the energy group's top management in the next three year will be to support the growth of its new units, and to ensure that the returns promised to investors are met.
According to Eni's website, the company plans to hold its shareholders meeting on 6 May.
(source: Reuters)
