Shareholders in office equipment firm Corporate Express could reject what they see as an over-generous pay package for top managers, reports Monday’s Financieele Dagblad.

Several institutional investors and the influential shareholders’ advisory firm RiskMetrics are against proposals to give hundreds of executives bonuses when the company is taken over by rival Staples even if they have not yet met long-term performance targets, the paper says.
‘This is blatant theft’, an unnamed source tells the FD.
However it is uncertain how many shareholders will vote against the bonus package on April 8. Up to 35% of shares are in the hands of investors that are unlikely to oppose the proposal, says the FD.
Last week Philips’ shareholders became the first in Dutch history to vote against executives’ bonus packages.