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Shareholders took issue with the remuneration package of Amcor chief executive Ken MacKenzie at a contentious annual general meeting on Thursday.

Mr MacKenzie will take home $8 million in total remuneration this financial year but not before enduring a fight from shareholders over $2.6 million in incentives.

During the two-and-a-half-hour meeting, shareholders took issue over the granting of 367,000 performance rights and 2.76 million options to Mr MacKenzie under Amcor's long-term incentive plan.

The Australian Shareholders' Association's (ASA) representative Dennis Torrens, representing 3.3 million proxy votes, said the performance hurdles set to achieve the reward fell short of the mark.

Mr MacKenzie's remuneration package will total between $7 million and $8 million including base pay of as much as $2.5 million, another $2.6 million in rights and options and $3 million in short-term awards.

Amcor chairman Chris Roberts said Mr MacKenzie needed to be properly rewarded to deliver shareholder value by steering the company through its integration with Rio Tinto's Alcan Packaging food unit in Europe, its global pharmaceuticals, Asia food unit and global tobacco unit.

The options would be awarded based on Amcor achieving a 15 per cent return on average funds employed, he said.

Mr Roberts said there was a retention component to ensure Mr MacKenzie remained in his post during the Alcan integration.

ASA chief executive Stuart Wilson said earlier this week that on a like-for-like basis, Amcor's executive team had a pay rise of around 11 per cent in 2008/09, a comment that drew the ire of Mr Roberts.

"The ASA article is so misleading," Mr Roberts said.

"This is the most responsible action we can take."

The trustee of Amcor's superannuation fund weighed in, pointing at Amcor's "moribund" past performance.

Mr Roberts said Amcor had to pay market rates to attract talent and quoted former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

"If you buck the market, the market will buck you," he said.

The motion won 96.4 per cent approval from proxy votes.



http://www.thebull.com.au/articles_detail.php?id=6839