Connecticut-based Eagle Bulk Shipping is out early this year with executive compensation numbers because of a pending takeover, and they show lower overall pay for Gary Vogel in his final full year as chief executive.
Vogel pulled in an overall pay package of $2.85m. The smallest component came in base salary, which was unchanged from 2022 at $695,000. Vogel earned a cash bonus of $1.04m and restricted stock grants that were assigned a value of $1.08m.
The full-year pay package will be Vogel’s last at New York-listed Eagle, as the owner of midsize bulkers is being bought by Greece’s Star Bulk Carriers in a $500m all-shares deal. The agreement will be put to a vote of Eagle shareholders on 5 April and approval is highly likely.
Vogel is to step aside after the combination closes, leaving existing Star management led by chief executive Petros Pappas to steer a market giant with 169 ships and a shares capitalisation of about $2.1bn.
Ironically, Vogel’s compensation package was significantly higher for 2022, largely because the Stamford company gave him financial incentives to extend his employment contract through to at least May 2026.
The “one-time retention grant” saw Vogel earn $3.5m for 2022 with a promise of another $3.5m if he were to still be in the job come the 2026 date.
However, as TradeWinds has reported, Vogel is still set to do just fine financially on his way out the door.
He’s departing with a $9m pay deal that includes $2m in cash severance and $6.6m as the result of restricted stock that will be eligible for accelerated vesting as a result of Eagle’s change of control.
However, Vogel’s 2023 pay was also lower than what he received for 2021. In that case, he earned $3.9m overall, with the lion’s share coming in restricted stock, as Eagle recorded a banner year of results in a booming market.
The year past was profitable but not as robust, as Vogel described in recent remarks in the company’s quarterly earnings report.
“Following two extraordinary years for the dry bulk market during which Eagle generated record profits, freight rates came off significantly in 2023 against a backdrop of unwinding congestion,” Vogel said then.
The only other Eagle executive whose compensation was detailed in Eagle’s newly filed annual report is Costa Tsoutsoplides, the chief financial officer.
Tsoutsoplides received an overall compensation of $1.54m, most of which came in stock and cash bonuses on top of his base salary of $362,500.
The CFO holds a six-month contract to stay on with the new Star Bulk to assist in integrating Eagle’s operation.
