Man chief Fink pockets £3.2m

FALLING stock markets have proved a boon for Man Group chief Stanley Fink, who reaped a £3.2m salary and bonus package from the hedge funds company in the past financial year.

The boom times at Man saw profits soar 21% to £193m and its share price jump from 835p to 1195p in the year to 31 March. This triggered bonuses of £1.4m and £1.7m for finance director Peter Clarke and managing director Kevin Davis. Non-executive chairman Harvey McGrath picked up a £272,000 salary.

Man's policy of tying remuneration heavily to performance was highlighted by the fact that Fink received a basic salary of only £350,000. However, his £2.75m bonus makes him one of the highest-paid FTSE 100 executives.

The trio's payments compare with the £1.5m salary and bonus paid to British American Tobacco chairman Martin Broughton and the £2.45m for Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy. However, with Man shares having fallen 18% this financial year - up 6p today at 985p - the executives' heavy reliance on the bonus component means the pay packages could plunge.

Man has mushroomed in size in the past three years on the back of booming demand for hedge funds, structured products and other investments which are not totally reliant on the equity market.

Fink has steered the company, once a tiny sugar trading firm, into the FTSE 100 and last month struck an $833m(£566m) deal to buy a Swiss rival, making Man the biggest hedge fund manager in the world with about $20bn of funds under management. Fink has also tried to raise the profile of the company by agreeing to sponsor the Booker Prize for novelists.

Fink, a 44-year-old chartered accountant, joined the group in 1987 as a director responsible for mergers and acquisitions. He became chief executive in March 2000.

Critics argue that the hedge fund boom cannot last because of a finite number of investment opportunities chased by a growing number of funds. Hedge fund managers are much more dependent on performance than conventional fund managers because they take around 20% of the profits made in commission.