(The following article by Bertrand Marotte was posted on the Globe and Mail website on May 2.)
MONTREAL — Paul Tellier received almost $6-million after his ouster as chief executive officer from Bombardier Inc. last December, according to securities filings.
Mr. Tellier, who turns 66 on Sunday, got a one-time severance payment of $3.84-million, representing a little more than two years of his then annual base salary, the Montreal-based company says in its 2005 management proxy circular.
He also received $2-million under Bombardier’s midterm incentive plan covering the period from Feb. 1, 2003, to January 31, 2006.
His 2004 salary was $1.76-million.
In addition, Mr. Tellier receives a yearly pension of $360,000. He also has until Dec. 12, 2007, to exercise options for one million class B subordinate shares granted to him in January, 2003, provided that the market price of the underlying shares has reached $10.
Bombardier shares have been trading in the $2.60 range. The stock has lost about 57 per cent of its market value over the past year.
Mr. Tellier was hailed as troubled Bombardier’s saviour when he was wooed away from Canadian National Railway Co. in early 2003 by Bombardier chairman Laurent Beaudoin. By December, 2004, he was gone after clashing over strategy with Mr. Beaudoin, a member of the founding Bombardier family.
The company has been struggling to boost weak profit margins at its two main divisions — aerospace and rail — and revive its flagging stock price. The post-9/11 turmoil in the U.S. airline business has been a key factor in the reversal of once-high-flying Bombardier.
Mr. Beaudoin, who turns 67 next week, took over as CEO after Mr. Tellier’s exit. For the year ended Jan. 31, 2005, Laurent Beaudoin collected $1.4-million.