Anglo ditches plans handy its boss an £8.5m bonus if he completes £40bn merger with Canadian rival Teck

Miner Anglo American has abandoned plans to hand its boss £8.5million if he completes a proposed £40billion merger with a Canadian rival.

It bowed to shareholder pressure and ditched the bonus scheme for Duncan Wanblad ahead of today’s vote on the tie-up with Teck Resources. 

The FTSE 100 firm said it ‘engaged extensively with shareholders’ who ‘raised a number of concerns’ regarding the payout.

Anglo explained it had ‘reflected carefully on shareholders’ concerns’. 

Analysts at investment bank Peel Hunt said: ‘With the removal of this resolution, we suspect the Teck combination proposal will be strongly backed by Anglo shareholders.’

The two companies announced plans to join forces in September in a ‘merger of equals’ that will create the fifth-largest copper miner in the world.

Payout: Anglo American has bowed to shareholder pressure and ditched the bonus scheme for Duncan Wanblad (pictured) ahead of today’s vote on the tie-up with Teck Resources

As part of the deal, Anglo wanted to amend the terms of its 2024 and 2025 bonus schemes to ensure that Wanblad, 58, and other executives would be guaranteed handsome share awards. 

But shareholders said they would vote against the changes at today’s meeting.

Having ditched the plans, Anglo said it would ‘engage further with shareholders’ regarding executive pay ahead of the 2026 annual general meeting.