British Land plc (LON:BLND) has announced that Bhavesh Mistry has been appointed Chief Financial Officer. Bhavesh is currently Deputy Chief Financial Officer at Tesco PLC, a position he has held for over two years. Prior to that he spent more than five years at Whitbread PLC, where he was Finance Director of Whitbread Hotels & Restaurants. He has previously held senior positions in finance and strategy at Virgin Media and Anheuser-Busch InBev and qualified as a Chartered Accountant at KPMG.
Bhavesh will become an Executive Director and join the Main Board. He is expected to join British Land no later than 1 August 2021. Until Bhavesh joins, David Walker will continue in his role as Interim Chief Financial Officer.
Simon Carter, Chief Executive said: “I am delighted Bhavesh is joining British Land at this important time for our business. His deep expertise in finance and wealth of experience in business transformation in fast moving industries will be invaluable as we continue to move our business forward and deliver against our strategic priorities.”
Bhavesh Mistry, incoming CFO said: “I am very pleased to be joining British Land. The business benefits from high quality assets with exciting opportunities for growth and development. I’m looking forward to working with Simon and the team to realise this potential.”
Remuneration Arrangements for Bhavesh Mistry
Bhavesh Mistry’s remuneration arrangements will be in accordance with British Land’s Directors’ Remuneration Policy, which was approved by shareholders at the Annual General Meeting in July 2019.
1. Salary and benefits
Bhavesh will receive a base salary of £490,000 and benefits including a car allowance (or equivalent cash supplement) of £16,700, be eligible for private health care for himself and family, life assurance, ill health income protection and other all-employee benefits. He will also receive a cash pension allowance of 15% base salary, which is in line with the pension rate applicable to the wider workforce.
2. Bonus
Bhavesh will be eligible to participate in the British Land Annual Incentive Plan for the 2021/22 financial year with a maximum bonus opportunity of 150% of base salary on a time prorated basis payable in cash and with one third deferral into shares for 3 years in accordance with the Policy.
3. Long Term incentives
Bhavesh will be eligible to participate in the British Land Long-Term Incentive Plan (the “LTIP”), subject to performance conditions being met which will be set in line with the Policy. Whilst the maximum annual award under the Policy is 300% of base salary, recent grants to Executive Directors have been within the range of 225% to 250% of salary.
4. Replacement awards
In order to replace existing incentive awards from his current employer that will lapse as a consequence of his appointment with British Land, but were due to vest between 2021 and 2024, Bhavesh will receive rights over British Land shares (but no cash) of equivalent value to the amounts forfeit. The British Land shares will vest when the forfeit amounts would have vested, subject normally to being still employed, will be subject to minimum additional holding periods and the BL share ownership requirements of 200% of salary, including for 2 years post cessation of employment and malus/clawback provisions. Where any of these forfeit amounts are subject to performance hurdles these will remain or be replaced by British Land performance requirements.
