Bombardier executive stock plan under the microscope by securities regulator

By The Canadian Press

MONTREAL — Quebec’s financial market regulator is reviewing Bombardier Inc.’s executive compensation plan, calling on the plane-and-train maker to suspend all related trades just hours after Quebec’s premier expressed lukewarm hopes about the future of the beleaguered company’s commercial aerospace operations.

The Autorite des marches financiers is reviewing how Bombardier implemented its Automatic Stock Disposition Plan, rolled out last August.

Bombardier said then that the plan allows some senior executives at the Montreal-based firm to sell their vested shares as an added incentive in performance-based compensation, so long as the trades are made by independent securities brokers and in line with “pre-arranged instructions” and parameters.

Hours earlier, Premier Francois Legault expressed scant hope for Bombardier’s CRJ series unless it finds an “international partner” after Bombardier agreed to sell its Q400 turboprop program.

Legault said the regional jet program could preserve the 1,000 or so jobs currently in Mirabel, Que., if the manufacturer can enter into a partnership rather than rely on government assistance.

The premier, who sees the future of the company in its train units, was speaking on the eve of a meeting between Economy and Innovation Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon and Bombardier chief executive Alain Bellemare, a week after the company announced it would lay off 5,000 workers, including 2,500 in Quebec and 500 in Ontario.

 

Companies in this story: (TSX:BBD.B)

The Canadian Press

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