Private Equity: 3i shareholders revolt over chief’s pay plans

Private Equity: 3i shareholders revolt over chief’s pay plans

Private Equity: Shareholders’ anger at 3i’s lacklustre share price performance bubbled over, as they launched a protest vote on plans to raise the pay package of Michael Queen, the private equity group’s chief executive.

Only 68 per cent approved an extension of a discretionary share plan, in a warning shot over the proposals on his remuneration.

Shareholders are dismayed at 3i’s share price, which has trailed the FTSE 250 index by 19 per cent since the start of the year.

This week’s vote overshadowed news that 3i will bring in Simon Borrows, chairman of Greenhill International, as chief investment officer, and that it became the first European group to be granted the right to launch a renminbi-denominated fund in China.

Instead, it brought to the fore discontent among shareholders and some investors in its private equity funds over perceived management weaknesses.

While most seem to accept the strategy to diversify into debt and infrastructure to level out the volatility of the private equity business, some question Mr Queen’s timing and management. Read More