A large majority of the institutional investors of the Sun TV Network, voted against the reappointment of Kalanithi Maaran as Executive Chairman and his wife Kavery Kalanithi as Executive director, in the annual general meeting held last week.
Admittedly, these resolutions were passed with the help of promoters voting in favor. The vote, which ended on January 30, showed that 86.24% of the institutional participants voted against both the resolutions. Organizations own 12% while promoters own 3/4th of the company.
Kalanithi Maran and Kavery Kalanithi have been appointed for 5 years from 20 April 2017. Both are part of the promoter family. Remunerations of Kalanithi Maran and Kavery Kalanithi were ₹87.5 crore each in FY21, aggregating 57% of the company`s total staff cost. Sun TV proposes to reappoint them for five years from April 2022 with an annual increment of up to 25% each year, which will be decided by the Nomination and Remuneration Committee.
At a remuneration of ₹87.5 crore paid to Kalanithi Maran and Kavery Kalanithi each since FY18, they are the highest-paid executive directors of S&P BSE 500 companies. Mumbai-based proxy advisory firm Institutional Investor Advisory Services (IIAS) advised to vote against both the resolutions proposed by Sun TV, as the remuneration was high. They also said that the company should put a maximum limit in absolute amounts on the quantum of the remuneration paid out.
It is to be noted that Sun TV shares have declined 17% against Nifty’s 4% fall in the past three months.
(With inputs from The Economic Times)
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