Mr. Simon’s arrangement treats him as an independent contractor, paying him $500,000 annually for the CEO job and $600,000 annually to be chairman.Taran Morgan
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Aphria Inc. awarded Irwin Simon a $10-million pay package when he was brought on as interim chief executive officer in March to help stabilize the company after it was rocked by a short-seller’s report.
The Ontario cannabis grower promised Mr. Simon, then the company’s independent board chair, a lucrative combination of salary, shares and stock options to take on the executive role.
Mr. Simon’s arrangement, detailed in a shareholder proxy circular published on Tuesday, treats him as an independent contractor, paying him $500,000 annually for the CEO job and $600,000 annually to be chairman. He collected just under $400,000 for the partial year ended May 31.
The company gave him 1,038,419 stock options and 87,294 shares of stock, valued at $8.85-million. He also has an incentive plan that paid him $325,000, the company’s document shows.
One million of the stock options, granted in February, have an exercise price of $13.31. Aphria shares closed Wednesday at $6.41, meaning the stock needs to more than double for Mr. Simon to profit from them before the options expire in 2024.
Aphria told its shareholders it has a “pay‐for‐performance philosophy that is designed to attract, motivate and retain high-performing senior executives, encourage and reward superior performance, and align our executives’ interests with those of the shareholders.”
Mr. Simon, the former founder and head of Hain Celestial Group Inc., was brought in after a short-seller report, published last December, questioned the quality of Latin American assets Aphria bought for hundreds of millions of dollars. The ensuing fallout saw CEO Vic Neufeld and two other founders depart their executive and board roles.
Aphria has churned through directors over the past year. Only three incumbents are seeking re-election: John Herhalt, Renah Persofsky and Tom Looney.
One notable proposed addition is Jodi Butts, the former CEO of Rise Asset Development and a board member of Canada Goose Inc. Ms. Butts is the wife of Gerald Butts, a long-time friend and adviser to Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau.
Aphria pays directors $150,000 in cash compensation plus $150,000 in stock awards.
Directors Shawn Dym, Michael Serruya and Shlomo Bibas won’t seek re-election.
Mr. Serruya is a long-time backer of Aphria who participated in a number of Aphria financings through his family’s private equity fund, often alongside investor Andy DeFrancesco.
It was allegations involving Mr. DeFranceso that led to the shakeup of Aphria’s board and management team earlier this year. The short-seller report from December alleged Aphria overpaid for Latin America and the Caribbean assets that had previously been owned by Mr. DeFrancesco.
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