Hong Kong-based hedge fund Oasis Management Company is urging fellow shareholders to vote against chief executive Andy Hornby’s “disproportionate” and “unpalatable” pay deal after almost doubling its stake in the company, according to a report by The Times.
The activist investment firm, which has upped its holding in the Wagamama and Frankie & Benny’s operator from 6.5 per cent to 12.3 per cent, believes Hornby has failed to generate value creation during his tenure and has contributed to a 73% fall in the company’s share price.
Hornby has been awarded a 2.5% pay increase to £674,450 for this year following four years of company losses, a development Oasis has branded as “tone deaf and wholly inappropriate” when shareholders have “endured damaging capital value destruction along with zero dividends or returns of capital since the current CEO’s tenure began”.
Oasis has also described Hornby’s restricted share plan, which awards shares on a time-vesting basis, as “even more unpalatable” in the light of his “highly generous base salary, which is disproportionate compared to the size of TRG”.
