MINING REPORTER
After pulling Canada's largest base-metals miner back from the brink of a debt-driven meltdown earlier this year, Teck Resources Ltd.'s CEO has decided to take some money off the table.
Chief executive officer Don Lindsay sold more than 190,000 of his Teck class B shares last week for about $5.2-million, according to filings with Canadian securities regulators.
The stock sales, which were conducted at prices ranging between $27.25 and $27.75 a share, reduced Mr. Lindsay's class B shareholdings in Teck by more than one-third.
In 27 transactions, all conducted on Aug. 28, Mr. Lindsay decreased his ownership of Teck class B shares to 302,056 shares from 492,456 shares.
Teck spokesman Greg Waller said Mr. Lindsay's holdings before the recent sale included approximately 502,000 class B shares and 526,000 Teck share units in the form of restricted stock units and deferred stock units. He also holds 850,000 stock options.
"So [the recent stock sale] represents about 10 per cent of his entire position," Mr. Waller said.
Mr. Lindsay drew a salary of $1.14-million in 2008 and a $500,000 bonus. Including share options, pension value and other forms of remuneration, his compensation totalled $6.5-million last year.
"All of the shareholders that I've talked to have been very understanding of the fact that he has converted some of his paper compensation into real compensation," Mr. Waller said.
Mr. Lindsay was at the centre of a traumatic year for Vancouver-based Teck and its shareholders, following the company's top-of-the-market $14-billion takeover of Fording Canadian Coal Trust in 2008.
The ill-timed acquisition saddled Teck with about $9.8-billion (U.S.) in debt just as demand for its coal, copper, zinc and other metals plunged and credit markets seized amid the global meltdown last fall. Mr. Lindsay had to suspend Teck's dividend, lay off employees and sell assets to raise cash to manage the debt load.
The credit market's recovery in the spring allowed Teck to issue $4.2-billion worth of junk bonds. In July, it struck a $1.74-billion (Canadian) deal with China Investment Corp., giving the state-owned fund 17.6 per cent of Teck's class B shares.
Teck's stock has rebounded from a 52-week low of $3.35 on the TSX to more than $25 a share in response to the debt-reduction plan.
Teck (TCK.B)
Close: $25.60, up 9¢
© The Globe and Mail
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