Boston, MA 04/22/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Nabors Industries Ltd. (NYSE:NBR), a land well servicing and drilling company, announced separating the roles and duties of Chairman from Chief Executive Officer.
Proxy Access Strategy
The company’s new decision comes as the service period of its CEO Anthony Petrello, who has been playing the role since 2011, ends. Nabors additionally announced limiting the severance payments for the company’s executives. The company said that it seeks to put in place a replacement access strategy whereby any shareholder having 5% stake for a minimum period of 3 consecutive years after the annual general meeting of 2014 would be given the authority to nominate directors. Shareholders of Nabors had, in 2012, agreed upon a non- binding replacement access resolution. This was the first time such a decision was approved of in such a big company.
On April 14, Nabors announced that it will limit the reverence payments to its executives to 2.99 times the total of their salary and bonuses. Nabors Industries Ltd. (NYSE:NBR)’s moves were accepted by shareholders including Blue Harbour Group and California State Teachers’ Retirement System.
Shareholders’ Pressure
Nabors had rewritten Petrello’s employment agreement in 2013 after the shareholder California State Teachers’ Retirement System, along with some other pension funds, pressurized the company to impose some restrictions such as limited annual bonuses. Apart from this, the company had received suggestions from several shareholder activists to renovate executive compensations so as to increase shareholder offerings in energy companies like SandRidge Energy Inc. (NYSE:SD), Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) and Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK).
In line with shareholders’ requests and suggestions last year, Nabors had arrived at an agreement with the company’s biggest shareholder, Pamplona Capital Management, to nominate two independent directors as members of the company’s board. Nabors was under the constant pressure of poor performance of its shares.
Apart from this, Nabors Industries Ltd. (NYSE:NBR) has also initiated dividend payouts and has declassified the board, while restructuring employee compensation to boost investor returns.
