Remuneration Information • Mar 24, 2020
Remuneration Information
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LONG TERM INCENTIVE PLAN 2020-2022
INFORMATION DOCUMENT
Published on March 24, 2020
Pursuant to art. 84 bis Consob Regulation no. 11971 of May 14,1999
(This document was approved by the Board of Directors on March 10, 2020 and is available on the Company's website www.telecomitalia.com)
On March 10, 2020 the Board of Directors of Telecom Italia S.p.A. ("TIM", the "Company" or the "Issuer"), based on the investigations made by the Nomination and Remuneration Committee, approved the proposal for the Long Term Incentive Plan 2020-22 (the "Plan") to be submitted to the Shareholders' Meeting called for April 23, 2020. With this initiative, we hope to open a new phase in TIM's remuneration policy, through a major overhaul of the Company's long term incentive architecture, using a rolling approach, whereby each year we will launch a separate three-year incentive cycle (2020-2022, 2021-2023, 2022-2024), homogeneous with and instrumental to the corresponding business planning cycles, it being understood that the inclusion of managerial personnel will take place separately for each incentive cycle.
This information document has been drawn up pursuant to the Issuers' Regulations (Consob resolution 11971/1999 and subsequent amendments) to disclose the terms and conditions of the Plan.
Any information that is not available at the time of approval by the Shareholders' Meeting of the proposal, will be disclosed in due time, in compliance with applicable regulations.
The Plan is reserved to the Chief Executive Officer and to members of the Group's management, as identified by TIM's Board of Directors at its own discretion (at the proposal of the Chief Executive Officer), after approval of the Plan by the Shareholders' Meeting, from among those executives deemed to be deserving of incentivisation and retention based on operational considerations.
The Beneficiaries will be identified by TIM's Board of Directors only after the Plan has been approved by the Shareholders' Meeting, without prejudice to the inclusion of the CEO (on the date of approval of the Information Document: Luigi Gubitosi).
The Beneficiaries will be identified, in due time, from among executives with permanent employment contracts with the Company or its Subsidiaries based in Italy, without prejudice to the inclusion of the Chief Executive Officer (on the date of approval of this Information Document: Luigi Gubitosi).
The reader is referred to paragraphs 1.1 and 1.2. above.
1.4. Description and indication of the number of Beneficiaries, separated into the categories indicated in point 1.4, letters a), b) c) and d) of Annex 3A, Schedule 7, of the Issuers' Regulations
The reader is referred to paragraphs 1.1 and 1.2. above.
The objective of the initiative is to provide an incentive for the Beneficiaries to achieve the strategic objectives of the Group, as defined each year in the business plan, aligning the interests of members of management who hold positions deemed crucial for the purposes of the company's business and the interests of TIM's shareholders, in terms of increasing the value of the Shares over the medium-long term. In order to ensure
the Plan will be divided into three successive Incentive Cycles, homogeneous with and instrumental to the corresponding business planning cycles, it being understood that the inclusion of managerial personnel will take place separately for each Incentive Cycle.
The three-year vesting period related to the length of the Incentive Cycles and the further Lock-up period distribute the benefits of the Plan over an appropriate and consistent period of time with the aim of aligning the management's remuneration with the long-term interests of the shareholders.
It is considered that the main features of the proposed measure are consistent with market practices for share plans (3 year vesting period, balance between market/non-market performance indicators, the presence of lock-up and clawback provisions) as well as with best practice in terms of integrating the sustainability indicators of the business activity into the corporate remuneration policy.
The bonus levels are defined in terms of pay opportunity, according to the following principles of TIM's remuneration policy, in which the Plan is seen as a key feature:
In the context of the Company's comprehensive remuneration policy, the focus of the Plan is obviously on company performance, but the quality of the Beneficiary is also important, since the target measure of the award with respect to the base salary is subject to change also based on merit and an qualitative assessment of individual staff members: see paragraph 2.3.
For the 2020-2022 Cycle, the choice of performance indicators relating to the Performance Share component (exclusive to the CEO) considers the situation regarding company stock as well as the internal strategic priorities, identifying concise parameters reflecting the growth, consolidation and leadership targets pursued, in terms of expectation of stock market return on investment of the shareholders and deleveraging. Based on similar criteria, the Board of Directors will identify the indicators in the subsequent Incentive Cycles, following analysis by the Nomination and Remuneration Committee. At the same time (for the remaining pool of Beneficiaries, other than the Chief Executive Officer), the Plan aims to provide TIM's remuneration policy with an effective retention tool to retain qualified management and increase the attractiveness of the company's remuneration policy from outside the company (Attraction/Retention Share component). In the current transformation and change management phase, it is essential that TIM is able to acquire talents from the labour market, by offering competitive remuneration packages in terms of the qualitative mix of the remuneration tools used, as well as from a quantitative standpoint. Finally, it was sought to seize the opportunity to tangibly enhance, in the form of a corrective bonus/malus system, the strategic ESG targets set by the Company as an essential component in defining its business strategies.
The considerations set out above, led to the proposal to structure the Plan around the two components of Attraction / Retention Shares and Performance Shares and the choice of Performance Parameters and the ESG Factors.
It should be noted that, in order to prevent overlapping with the current 2018-2020 LTI plan, managers (including the CEO in office) who qualified as beneficiaries of the 2020-2022 Incentive Cycle will be required to forgo the 2020 award share of the 2018-2020 LTI plan.
The on-target pay opportunity for each Incentive Cycle is diversified:
The number of rights allocated will correspond to the quotient between pay opportunity and the normal value of the ordinary share at the time of the launch of each Incentive Cycle, and will be expressed only in Performance Shares for the CEO, in a mix of Performance Shares (70%) and Attraction/Retention Shares (30%) for the remaining Beneficiaries.
As further specified below, the payout at Maturity will be a flat rate for the Attraction/Retention Shares component, and variable for the Performance Shares component (as per paragraph 4.5 below ), without prejudice to the application of the two components of the ESG Factors and without prejudice to the overall share basket available to the entire Plan, in a maximum 180,000,000 Shares.
Not applicable.
No significant accounting or tax implications have influenced the definition of the Plan.
The Plan does not receive support from the special fund for encouraging employee ownership of firms.
The powers delegated to the Board of Directors include:
− powers to select the exact indicators to be used as Performance Parameters and ESG Factors with respect to the 2021-2023 Cycle and the 2022-2024 Cycle.
The Board of Directors is assigned responsibility for the administration of the Plan, through the corporate functions for those aspects within their competence, and may also delegate all or part of its powers to the Chief Executive Officer, with respect to Beneficiaries other than the same Chief Executive Officer.
Should any extraordinary event concerning the Company or change to the regulatory framework which could have an impact on the Plan occur, the Board of Directors will have the power, after obtaining the assent of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee and without requiring further involvement of the Shareholders' Meeting, to make amendments or additions to the rules of the Plan aimed at keeping the substantial and economic contents of the Plan unchanged, within the limits permitted by the resolutions passed by the Shareholders' Meeting of April 23, 2020 (including the maximum number of Shares to serve the Plan) and by the law as applicable at the time.
To service the initiative the Shareholders' Meeting of April 23, 2020 will be asked to issue in several tranches, within the deadline of December 31, 2025, a maximum of 180,000,000 new Shares, with regular dividend entitlement, pursuant to Article 2349 of the Italian Civil Code and without a share capital increase, granting the Board of Directors all necessary or appropriate powers to execute the individual share issue tranches, defining the amount of Shares to allocate free of charge to the Beneficiaries.
It is also proposed to empower the Board of Directors, where deemed necessary or appropriate, to satisfy the Plan, in whole or in part, by using the Company's treasury shares in the Company's portfolio at any time. The Board of Directors therefore also asks the Shareholders' Meeting of April 23, 2020 for authorisation to use the aforementioned treasury shares.
The analysis of the design of the Plan was carried out by the Nomination and Remuneration Committee (composed of Directors Altavilla – Chairman, Bonomo, Capaldo, Sabelli and Valensise, all qualified as independent), with support provided by the company's management and Mercer Italia.
The Board of Directors has taken the relevant decisions in view of the Shareholders' Meeting (with the Chief Executive Officer abstaining, as he is a Beneficiary), acting on the unanimous proposal of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee.
The subsequent board resolutions for the approval of the Plan rules and the application and launch of each Incentive Cycle and any other decision related to administering the Plan will be adopted in compliance with the provisions concerning the interests of Directors, related party transactions and the remuneration of executive directors, where applicable.
The Nomination and Remuneration Committee has reviewed the general architecture of the Plan and the indicators to be adopted as Performance Indicators and ESG Factors in the 2020-2022 Cycle, after a preliminary analysis to assess the need to revise the corporate remuneration policy (also in light of the feedback from analysts and investors, on occasion of the Shareholders' Meeting of March 29, 2019), in the meetings held on January 22, February 19 and March 4, 2020.
The Board of Directors, which had already been informed of the preliminary analyses carried out during the review of the corporate remuneration policy guidelines (meeting on December 19, 2019), discussed the measure, making observations and suggestions, at the meetings held on January 29 and February 27, 2020, and then approved the proposal to be submitted to the Shareholders' Meeting (with unanimous approval), with the CEO abstaining, during the proceedings on March 10, 2020, alongside the approval of the 2020-2022 business plan and within the framework of the 2020 remuneration policy.
The Plan is subject to the approval of the Shareholders' Meeting called for April 23, 2020. Subsequently, if the Plan should be approved, the Board of Directors will meet to take the relevant decisions for implementing the Plan, after the Nomination and Remuneration Committee has analysed the related rules and at the proposal of the Chief Executive Officer regarding the identification of the Beneficiaries.
The official price of the Shares on the MTA electronic share market organised and managed by Borsa Italiana S.p.A. was as follows:
3.9. Time limits and procedures by which the Issuer, in identifying the calendar for the allocation of the instruments to implement the Plan, takes into account the possible timing coincidence between: (i) such award or any decisions taken in this regard by the Nomination and Remuneration Committee and; (ii) the dissemination of any relevant information pursuant to article 114, subsection 1 of the CLF
The effective transfer to the Beneficiaries of the Shares under each Incentive Cycle shall take place upon Maturity, subject to the non-discretional assessment of the Continuity of Employment, the level of achievement of the Performance Parameters (limited to the Performance Shares Plan), applicablity of the ESG Factors, and without prejudice to the subsequent Lock-up, as well as the applicability of the Claw-back. In light of the foregoing, the Company does not envisage any particular provisions in relation to the situations referred to above, while respecting the applicable regulations.
The Plan provides for the free allocation of Shares to the Beneficiaries, the effective transfer of which shall take place on Maturity of each Incentive Cycle, depending on the applicable conditions and parameters of the two components Performance Shares and Attraction/Retention Shares (in addition to compliance with the early termination provisions set out in point 4.8).
The Plan includes three different Incentive Cycles: 2020-2022 Cycle, 2021-2023 Cycle, 2022-2024 Cycle.
The free allocation of the Shares under the Plan to the Beneficiaries, with the consequent crediting to the share accounts in their names, prepared for this purpose by the Issuer, shall take place separately for each Incentive Cycle in relation to the corresponding Maturity.
Each Incentive Cycle will expire upon the respective Maturity, with consequent crediting of any Shares to the share accounts of the Beneficiaries, without prejudice to their subsequent Lock-up and subject to Claw-back.
There is no prior allocation of the Shares basket provided for in the Plan between the three subsequent Incentive Cycles, without prejudice to the criteria for determining the pay opportunity referred to in subsection 2.3 and the maximum limit of Shares servicing the Plan (180,000,000).
Maturity shall occur separately in 2023 for the 2020-2022 Cycle, in 2024 for the 2021-2023 Cycle, in 2025 for the 2022- 2024 Cycle, with the concurrent issue of the Shares for which the Board of Directors will ascertain the right of allocation to the relative Beneficiaries.
The Performance Shares of each Incentive Cycle accrue, subject to meeting the respective Gate condition, in a number varying depending on the level of achievement of the Performance Parameters as ascertained by the Board of Directors at the time of approval of the Group's consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2022 (2020- 2022 Cycle), December 31, 2023 (2021-2023 Cycle), December 31, 2024 (2022-2024 Cycle). With respect to the 2020- 2022 Cycle, the Performance Parameters consist of the stock relative performance and Net Financial Position / EBITDA ratio.
The relative performance of the Share (weight: 60%) will be calculated by verifying TIM's Total Shareholders Return ranking with respect to a basket of peers comprising BT, Deutsche Telekom, Elisa, KPN NV, Orange, Proximus, Swisscom, Telefonica, Telekom Austria, Telenor, Telia, Vodafone. With regard to this parameter, the payout metric provides for:
with linear interpolation in case of value at intermediate levels.
For the 2020-2022 Cycle, the Performance Parameter represented by the Net Financial Position/EBITDA ratio (40%) sets a target for the first cycle of 2.98 with the following payout metric:
with linear interpolation in case of value at intermediate levels.
The payout curve is different for the CEO and the remaining Beneficiaries:
For all Beneficiaries and for both components of the Plan, the number of Shares actually assigned will be the result of the application of the ESG Factors to the sum of the accrued Performance Shares and Attraction/Retention Shares. This correction for the 2020-2022 Cycle is calculated as the arithmetic mean of the two indicators:
The achievement (or failure of achievement) of the stated targets will determine the application of the upward (or downward) adjustment factor.
Both the Performance Shares and the Attraction/Retention Shares will be allocated to the Beneficiaries on a personal basis, and cannot be transferred or subject to pledges or liens, nor may they constitute the object of any disposal act whatsoever.
After Maturity, the Shares credited to the individual share accounts of the Beneficiaries prepared for this purpose by the Issuer shall be subject to Lock-up and Claw-back mechanisms.
Not provided for.
In case of premature death or termination of the Continuity of Employment due to (i) retirement; (ii) consensual termination with maintenance of the Performance Shares (in any case subject to the Beneficiary's entering into a noncompete agreement for a period of no less than 6 months); (iii) placement outside the perimeter of the Group, for any reason, of the company the Beneficiary is employed by/collaborates with; (iv) dismissal for justified objective reasons; (v) total and permanent invalidity, the Performance Shares, in a number to be reduced in proportion to the portion of Incentive Cycles already passed, shall remain susceptible to Maturity (therefore without accelerated vesting), provided that the termination event takes place after January 1, 2021.
The Attraction/Retention Shares will definitively be extinguished without any form of restoration in case of death of the Beneficiary or if the Continuity of Employment requirement is no longer met for any reason.
The Plan does not have any grounds for cancellation.
The Plan does not provide for buy back by the Company.
Not applicable.
At the date of this document, it is not possible to indicate the exact amount of the expected cost of the Plan for the Issuer, as this cost depends on the maximum number of rights actually allocated and matured in each Incentive Cycle, determined in the manner explained above.
Pursuant to IFRS 2 (Share-based payment), the Company and, where applicable, each Subsidiary, for the part pertaining to them, will measure the fair value of the allocated rights throughout the vesting period. This amount will be recognised pro-rata temporis in the separate profit and loss account throughout each Incentive Cycle with an item in personnel costs as a counter-entry to a net equity reserve. These expenses recognised under personnel costs may be deducted for IRES and IRAP purposes by the Company and by each Subsidiary with registered offices in Italy where IFRS 2 is applicable, for the portion pertaining to it.
A maximum of 180,000,000 Shares, subject to issuance pursuant to 2349 of the Italian Civil Code, are allocated to service the Plan, which corresponds to 0.85% of the total existing shares as at December 31, 2019, and 1.18% with respect to the existing ordinary shares only.
The Company's ordinary shares in the Company's portfolio at any time may be used towards the initiative.
Without prejudice to the two year Lock-up period, no restrictions are placed on the exercise of voting rights or for the attribution of the economic rights inherent to the Shares subject to allocation free of charge upon Maturity.
Not applicable.
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