It may be lonely at the top but, at least in the case of publicly traded real estate investment trust executives, it’s not poor.
The pay packets of top corporate brass have garnered plenty of scolding headlines since New York Stock Exchange CEO Richard Grasso’s $140 million salary contributed to his 2003 departure. That the worth of an executive’s labors and the performance of its stock don’t always correspond isn’t news, but the scope of their perks can still reek of corporate excess.
Compensation for heads of real estate investment trusts, or REITs, in addition to base pay and salary, can include all sorts of perks such as access to company jets, a car and driver, payouts for long-term company success and more.
An analysis by The Real Deal shows that CEO compensation at REITs with market capitalizations of more than $1.5 billion averages $4.5 million. The approximately 50 companies analyzed are listed on the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts’ All REIT Index.
Total compensation, which started at $473,000 and ranged up into the tens of millions, was determined by adding all the components of compensation companies must report to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
John Kilroy of Kilroy Realty was the top earner in 2005, pulling down $42.5 million as head of the Southern California REIT that owns and develops suburban office and industrial real estate.
The second-highest-paid CEO was Thomas Prendergast of Heritage Property Investment Trust, who took home a comparatively paltry $16 million.
A near tie for third place showed Scott Wolstein of Developers Diversified Realty and Timothy Callahan of Trizec Properties, each taking home around $14.1 million.
“[Compensation] should be determined based on the market, performance and the size of the company,” says James Wright of CEL and Associates, a consulting group that helps REITs determine how much to pay their executives, though those decisions are actually made by company compensation committees, which are composed of members of the board of directors.
Although shares of large New York REITs like SL Green and Vornado have performed well, their CEOs were not the highest paid. Steven Roth of Vornado made only $3.7 million and Mark Holliday of SL Green made a respectable $10.1 million. Vornado’s stock was up 9 percent in 2005 and SL Green’s was up 26 percent.
Getting a hefty LTIP
Long Term Incentive Plans, or LTIPs, seem to account for the difference between the highest-paid executives and merely well-paid ones. As the name suggests, these long-term plans often generously award CEOs if the company meets certain performance benchmarks that have to do with stock price, earnings or other measures.
Twelve of the 53 companies analyzed by The Real Deal paid an LTIP in 2005. Others have LTIP programs that did not yield any compensation last year.
Two of the top three highest paid executives in 2005 received LTIP payouts that accounted for the bulk of their total compensation.
Of Kilroy’s $42 million 2005 compensation, over $38 million was from the LTIP and, of Wolstein’s $14 million total compensation, over $10 million was from an LTIP.
While Kilroy’s LTIP payout topped the list in 2005, Jay Sugarman, CEO of iStar Financial, in 2003 received an $84.8 million LTIP payout. His 2005 compensation was a meager $5 million.
Kilroy Realty’s stock price increased 45 percent in 2005. Similarly, iStar’s stock was up 38 percent in 2003, although it’s remained nearly flat since then.
Kilroy and iStar have conspicuously rewarded shareholders, and REITs as a whole have outperformed other stock indices over the past few years as the housing sector boomed.
The NAREIT All REIT Index saw total returns of over 30 percent in 2003 and 2004, but had more modest gains in 2005 with returns of around 8.3 percent. It’s up 12.7 percent this year through June 30.
Some insight into CEO pay can be found on the Web site of the Bradford Group, a REIT compensation consulting firm that recently merged with CEL. It hosts a chart that provides compensation benchmarks by matching any REIT’s three year average EBITDA to a benchmark figure for the three year average of that REIT’s executive salary plus bonus.
With a three-year average EBITDA of around $150 million, Kilroy’s three-year average base pay, plus salary, should be a little over $600,000. It’s $1,995,000.
While the chart offers concrete compensation figures, Wright of CEL declined to comment on how much pay is too much.
Kilroy wasn’t the only executive at his company to earn a lot from LTIPs. Kilroy Realty’s COO Jeffrey Hawken took home over $19 million and its CFO Richard Moran Jr. took home over $13.5 million. In total, the LTIP paid Kilroy Realty executives over $71.5 million.
“Usually there are very tough criteria in terms of outperforming of peer group and REIT indexes” for an LTIP to be paid to executives, according to Wright. When these criteria are met, shareholders — and executives — stand to benefit greatly.
Perks aplenty
While LTIPs are a good way to reward CEOs for company performance, they are not the only way to increase executive means.
Compensation beyond just base pay and salary, which includes everything from matching 401(k) deposits and stock grants to luxury travel expenses, on average, accounted for nearly 70 percent of a CEO’s total compensation.
A few companies allowed their executives to take personal vacations using the company aircraft. Some of these fortunate executives included Richard Kincaid of Equity Office Properties, Arthur Coppola of Macerich and John Goff of Crescent Real Estate Equity.
Finding a parking spot in New York can be a hassle, but not for Roth of Vornado Realty, who was compensated over $150,000 in 2005 in the form of a car and driver. That amounts to around twice the average salary of a New York real estate broker, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
While many CEOs received large bonuses, one CEO is actually actively requesting to receive less pay than his company wants to give.
David Simon, the CEO of Simon Property Group, has turned down a bonus in the past three years despite the company’s size and performance.
Even though Simon Property Group was the largest REIT examined in terms of market cap, and its stock price increased 16.8 percent in 2005 and 123 percent over the past three years, Simon received relatively modest compensation. According to the company’s proxy statement, in 2005, Simon was in the 19th percentile in terms of executive pay when compared to comparable REITs. That means about 81 percent of comparable REIT CEOs were paid more than he was.
“I think he’s taken a very admirable position,” said consultant Wright.