Senior Marine Harvest executives cashed out more than 500,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at more than NOK 60 million (USD 7.08 million, EUR 6.33 million).
The Norwegian seafood company is the world’s largest producer of Atlantic salmon and employees 11,700 workers, according to its website. Its stock is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.
The transactions, which took place 21 March, and involved the exercise of options awarded to senior executives at Marine Harvest in 2012. As part of its option scheme to reward executive performance, the company sold 594,621 shares of its stock to its executives at a strike price of NOK 28.37 (USD 3.35, EUR 2.99) per share. The executives, in turn, sold back the shares at a price of NOK 129.30 (USD 15.26, EUR 13.65) per share.
The top four executives at Marine Harvest earned a combined NOK 35.3 million (USD 4.17 million, EUR 3.73 million) from the transaction.
Marine Harvest CEO Alf-Helge Aarskog exercised 105,500 options, earning NOK 10.65 million (USD 1.26 million, EUR 1.13 million). According to the public filing, Aarskog still holds 138,570 shares of Marine Harvest.
Company CFO Ivan Vindheim exercised 63,823 options, earning NOK 6.44 million (USD 760,712, EUR 680,123), and retains 660 shares of company stock.
Marit Solberg, farming COO for Marine Harvest, exercised 56,833 options, pocketing NOK 5.74 million (USD 676,558, EUR 605,173). Soldberg still holds 47,813 shares of company stock.
Ola Bratvoll, COO of sales and marketing, cashed out 46,817 options, earning NOK 4.73 million (USD 557,462, EUR 498,816). Bratvoll retains 9,231 shares of Marine Harvest stock.
Since 2012, Marine Harvest’s board of directors has awarded 1.2 million options under its senior executive compensation scheme. Executives are limited to cashing out options that exceed twice their fixed annual salary.
According to a company press release, the options “form an important part of Marine Harvest’s long-term remuneration policy for such senior executives.”
