The gold producer Endeavour Mining is to clawback more than $29m in pay and awards after firing its chief executive this month for alleged “serious misconduct” over allegations of a multimillion-dollar “irregular payment”.
London-headquartered Endeavour said on Thursday that Sébastien de Montessus, who had led the FTSE 100 company since 2016, would be forced to forfeit $29.1m (£22.9m) in remuneration.
De Montessus, who was the highest paid FTSE 100 chief executive in 2021, will receive no salary, pension, benefits, bonus or share awards for the 2023 and 2024 financial years.
Endeavour said this amounted to $17.6m. Its remuneration committee also exercised a “clawback” relating to 2021 and 2022 amounting to a further $11.5m.
Part of that will be offset against previous long-term incentive plan awards, but De Montessus will have to personally pay back $2.7m.
De Montessus said: “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.”
This month, Endeavour announced the departure of De Montessus, who was also the president of Endeavour, with “immediate effect”.
The company said it was also investigating whistleblower allegations made against De Montessus “relating to his personal conduct with colleagues”.
after newsletter promotion
Endeavour, which operates four mines in west Africa, said its investigation into the allegedly irregular payment was continuing.
