Legal & General boss Tim Breedon is to leave the business at the end of the year with a £3 million pay-off, the insurer revealed today.
Breedon, who is seen as having guided L&G through the financial crisis with some skill, will collect up to 2.8 million free shares worth £3.1 million as a “good leaver”. Those share awards depend on how well L&G hits its targets this year.
L&G today picked finance director Nigel Wilson to replace Breedon -- a rare sign of succession planning in the sector, say analysts.
Wilson’s appointment was welcomed by the City with L&G shares rising 2.55p to 113.9p.
Panmure Gordon analyst Barrie Cornes was effusive: “We think that this is a great appointment for L&G given [Wilson’s] impressive performance since becoming finance director in September 2009 when he identified cash as being a key driver for valuation of L&G which has now been copied across the sector.”
Wilson, who was previously finance director at media group UBM, will see his basic salary rise from £585,000 to £750,000.
