GAM fights off pressure over remuneration policy at AGM

Board discharge fails to pass

Investors approved all resolutions at GAM's annual general meeting (AGM) yesterday (8 May) with 72.1% of shareholders backing the firm's compensation report despite opposition from proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS).

ISS had encouraged members to vote against the non-binding consultative vote in a report which raised a number of concerns, such as the variable compensation model applied to GAM's executives other than the CEO and CFO, which is not capped in absolute terms. However, the vote passed with just 27.3% voting against and 0.7% abstaining. It follows a tumultuous 2018 for the group, amid the fallout of Tim Haywood's suspension, in which the five main GAM shareholders were hit with losses of nearly $840m due to the depreciation of the share price. The absolute return ABRF fund range is still...